Free Period

February 19, 2024
Academic genius Helen and glitter-, baking-, and costume-obsessed Gracie are best friends. They’re also the queens of practical joking at their middle school. But after they’re caught executing a stinky prank that leads to the school canceling a much-anticipated pep rally, the girls are forced to join the Community Action Club as recompense. What’s worse is that the club is helmed by their nemesis, cheer captain and all-around do-gooder Madison. When the duo learn that the club is working on getting period products put in school bathrooms, Gracie, who loves to talk about menstruation, and Helen, who’d rather pretend it doesn’t exist, are immediately on board. The white-coded tweens’ humor-laced alternating POVs occasionally read too similarly, and their quirks often overshadow character growth. Still, via Helen and Gracie’s individual experiences, debut author Terese spins a rollicking and timely tale of period equity in which eighth graders on the cusp of big change learn how to collaborate with others and how to use their creative, intellectual, and mayhem-causing talents to enact meaningful change. Ages 8–12. Agent: Miranda Paul, Erin Murphy Literary.

Starred review from January 15, 2024
This spirited coming-of-age story brings menstruation and period equity to the fore. When mischievous and self-involved eighth graders Helen and Gracie's big end-of-middle-school prank backfires, their fed-up principal delivers a surprisingly restorative punishment: "I am sentencing you to care." The two BFFs have the month before summer break to "accomplish something that matters to the school." Helen and Gracie join the Community Action Club, whose members are working to have free menstrual products available in every school bathroom. The chapters, alternately told from Helen's and Gracie's first-person points of view, depict their growth out of codependency and toward independence and empathy as their commitment, understanding, and care for the project increase. Secondary characters, including a villainous school board member, sympathetic family members, cliquey classmates, and swoony crushes, are entertainingly portrayed. The dialogue is quick-moving and hilarious, but the pun-filled jokes can verge on corny and repetitive. There are reflections on family, gender, and social class, but there's less emphasis on racial equity (Gracie and Helen are cued white). When the project goals are in crisis, and the club members really need to be heard, the girls' previous antics cause others to doubt them and their motivations. This is when they candidly learn lessons about allyship, strategy, disappointment, and the complex decision-making processes and compromises that can accompany collective action. Punchy, electric, and smart social commentary. (Fiction. 8-12)

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Starred review from July 12, 2024

Gr 3-7-Eighth grade besties Helen and Gracie are known school pranksters who hope to pull off an epic prank before exiting middle school (Prankuation!). Helen and Gracie are joined at the hip, and their fed-up parents work to separate them, much to the girls' dismay. After a few too many pranks, their frustrated principal sentences them to a unique punishment: they have to care! They are sentenced to the Community Action Club and are given one month to accomplish something of importance to the school. Told in alternating first-person narratives by the duo, the girls rally for period equity at school, with free menstruation products in all bathrooms, so students can avoid embarrassment and inconvenience. Told with sassy, humorous dialogue, this tale is rife with strong secondary characters, such as "mean girl" Madison, and boys the girls have crushes on. As the project picks up steam, the codependent friends begin to exert their independence, and their differing personalities emerge. Obstacles abound as the girls learn how to advocate and get their demands met in more diplomatic manners. An author's note discusses normalizing menstruation for all, whether you're a Gracie who loves talking all things periods, or a Helen who'd prefer to keep things private. VERDICT Smartly crafted, this is a modern Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret told with verve and humor, and can be shared with all students.-Michele Shaw

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