Five Kids, One Book: Breakout by Christina Wyman

Welcome back to Five Kids, One Book! In this series, I send one buzzy middle grade to five kids and ask them what they thought of it.

The goal of this series is to help YOU find the best audience for a specific middle grade book—not necessarily to determine whether a book is “good” or “bad.” That distinction is important because for this series, I often have one genre faithful and one variance pick.

Our genre faithful is the book’s ideal reader, the one who’s expressed interest in the genre, themes, and writing style of our One Book. The variance pick is the kid who helps us test how far the book travels beyond its genre faithfuls. Typically, they either dislike the genre, format, or themes explored. This helps you identify the reader who would not enjoy this book. It’s a fun little spectrum experiment and I know it will help you find bulls-eye selections for your specific reader.

For this installment, I asked five kids what they thought about Christina Wyman’s Breakout.

I love this author’s ability to capture the middle school voice and she represents kids from lower- and lower-middle class families accurately in her books.

I especially loved her debut, Jawbreaker. After reading her sophomore novel, Slouch, though, I couldn’t help but feel like all her books are a bit too similar for me. It feels like she’s writing the exact same book but with slightly different kids and issues. This template-style structure doesn’t mean the writing or storytelling is bad. It just means that as a reviewer who reads a ton of middle grade, I kind of feel like I’ve seen the full range of her writing and don’t have a desire to keep reading.

However, I’m always curious about how kids receive “issue-driven” fiction, which Wyman’s books certainly are, so I picked her latest book, Breakout, to test out with our reviewers.

Breakout stars eighth grader Ellis Starr who finds her middle school experience complicated by severe acne.

Let’s meet our panelists!

Here’s a quick look at the five readers behind this month’s reviews, so you can spot the one who reads most like the kid in your life.

Avery, 13 (Canada)

Avery reads to understand other people, and she’ll tell you so. She’s read Fish in a Tree more than once, and she loves books like A Place at the Table and Welcome to Nowhere that drop her into a life different from her own. She picks up a book every spare moment she gets. If the kid in your life reaches for realistic stories about real feelings and real lives, Avery reads just like them.

Charlotte, 12 (United States)

Charlotte is an adventure-and-mystery reader with a soft spot for a series she can sink into, like City Spies, the Red Blazer Girls, and The Doughnut Fix. She’s also a proud audiobook champion who found her way back to loving reading and set herself a goal of 100 books this year. She’s already halfway there. If your reader loves fast-paced series, listens as much as she reads, or is still finding her footing as a reader, Charlotte is a kindred spirit.

Magnolia, 11 (United States)

Magnolia is a realistic-fiction reader with a real eye for craft (she’s currently writing a novella of her own). She loves books like Refugee and Grow Up, Talia Wilkins, and she notices when an author shows her a feeling instead of just telling her about it. Reading is her biggest hobby, and she reads fast. If your reader cares about how a story is built and wants characters who feel like friends, Magnolia is their match.

Caleb P., 11 (United States)

Caleb is a realistic middle grade reader who loves a story he can see himself in. He named The Sweet Spot, Belly Up, and Front Desk as favorites, and he especially loved reading about a kid his own age getting through hard times with family and friends. He’s also the one boy on this panel, so his take is worth watching for any parent wondering whether boys will connect with this story. If your reader looks for characters who live a life like his, Caleb reads like him.

Danielle, 12 (United States)

Danielle loves contemporary stories about identity and belonging, with humor and drama mixed in. She named Sincerely Sicily as a favorite and gravitates toward books that explore race and culture and let her see a range of lives. If your reader is drawn to honest, character-driven stories about figuring out who you are, Danielle is their kind of reader.

Now, it’s time for the reviews. Behind the paywall, I’m sharing the kids’ reviews, plus my final verdict based on the kids’ reviews and my thoughts on their reviews.

In case you’re wondering, all our kid reviews are presented as written, with no edits beyond italicizing book titles as needed. I’m proud of the work put in by these astute, thoughtful young readers (and writers)!