I’ve been wanting to read Erin Entrada Kelly’s books for a while. As a writer of middle-grade, hers is a name that keeps popping up. I finally read You Go First, and what an unusual, charming book it is!
You Go First tells two stories, stories that barely meet. One is the story of Charlotte Lockard, who wishes she had a friend who would call her Lottie, or Charlie, or anything that made her feel closer, made her an intimate friend. But Charlotte she is, and Charlotte she remains, except online, where her name is Lottie Lock.
And it’s online that she meets Ben Boxer, who has his own set of problems. A strange sort of friendship emerges between Lottie and Ben. For Ben, Lottie is the one he would call if he won the lottery. For Lottie, online Scrabble with Ben feels like the one place where she’s in control. And their friendship becomes something that matters, even as other relationships crumble.
Through the pages of You Go First, we travel through two parallel stories. Both Lottie and Ben have secrets, humiliating secrets, and somehow, through the little games of make-believe that they play, they find solace in each other. They also find quirky, kind people around them, people who might just be the friends they are looking for.
You Go First is a story of love and broken trust, of wishes and helplessness. Above all, it is the story of two young people trying in their own ways to control whatever little they can even as everything around them seems to spiral out of control. It is an optimistic story, which reaffirms the idea that even when everything goes wrong, there are little things that turn out just fine.
| Title | You Go First |
| Author | Erin Entrada Kelly |
| Tags | Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction |
| Rating (out of 5) | 4 |
| Ages | 10+ |
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