Kathleen Foucart (Children's Literature)
Kirsten’s family has been having problems. Her parents fight a lot and do not pay attention to Kirsten or her little sister Kippy anymore. Add to that the fact that Kirsten has gained between thirty and forty pounds from binge eating over the summer--and the first day of eighth grade looks more like an escape from her family than anything else. Walk is the new boy at school and one of the only African-Americans attending the prestigious private school. He received a scholarship and his mother constantly reminds him that he is going to do well in life as long as he keeps working hard. What Walk cannot understand, though, is why Matteo, his Latin-American friend who is also attending on a scholarship, always does whatever pretty, popular, blonde Brianna asks of him, even when it gets him in trouble. And Kirsten cannot understand why her best friend Rory has suddenly decided to hang out with Brianna’s crowd when Rory could not stand the girl the year before. Kirsten and Walk both try to deal with the strange things going on around them and slowly become friends. Then one night Kirsten overhears a secret that changes her life and Walk’s life forever. In this wonderful, uplifting story no problem is insurmountable with the help of friends and family. 2007, Harcourt, $17.00. Ages 10 up.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2007 (Vol. 75, No. 16))
Kirsten and Walk start the first day of seventh grade with one thing in common: They're both late. This earns them a detention together, and they strike up an easy friendship, which seems to make their mothers uneasy for some reason. Could it be that Walk is the only black kid at the very private school? Or that Kirsten shows signs of an eating disorder, has lost her best friend to the wiles of the rich and snobby Brianna Hanna-Hines and seems to have no desire to fit in with the popular crowd? Choldenko's talent for characters and conversation brings the two voices instantly to life in alternating points of view (Kirsten's chapters in first-person, Walk's in third, for a slight off-kilter feeling). The story of familiar middle-school tribulations is engaging, but fails to pick up steam until it lands in a late surprise twist. Completely without foreshadowing, it adds both gravitas and clarity to the entire story, which turns out to be about privilege, perception and the fallibility of parents. This will appeal to a wide range of middle-school readers and would make a great book-club or classroom discussion. 2007, Harcourt, 224p, $17.00. Category: Fiction. Ages 11 to 14. © 2007 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Kathleen McBroom (Library Media Connection, January 2008)
This starts out like many middle school sagas: Kirsten is completely miserable. She was looking forward to seventh grade, but her best friend has dumped her in favor of the cool kids, her parents are fighting all the time, and the 30 extra pounds she's packed on aren't helping. However, Kirsten begins spending time with different people, including a new boy, Walk, one of only three African American kids in their upper-scale private school. Just as the friendship gets going, Kirsten discovers that her father also fathered Walk. Now Kirsten, Walk, and their families must redefine their self-concepts, their relationships, and their lives. The tale is told in two voices: Kirsten's first-person narrative alternates with Walk's third-person, present-tense storyline. The plot develops credibly; most of the characters are fully developed, including Walk's mother and Kirsten's little sister, and the middle school social scene is captured perfectly. Readers will recognize the settings and empathize with Kirsten's and Walk's emotional upheavals. The book ends on a positive note: Kirsten, Walk, and all of the adults begin to reach out to each other, and Walk handles an especially intrusive inquiry about his parentage with humor and restraint. Recommended. 2007, Harcourt, 224pp., $17 hc. Ages 12 to 15.

Karen Coats (The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, January 2008 (Vol. 61, No. 5).)
Kirsten is a fairly average girl trying to live up to her parents’ increasingly difficult demands: her dad wants her to be a brilliant student like her little sister, and her mom wants her to stop gaining weight. Their constant fighting, though, is what repeatedly sends her to the potato chips and Snickers for emotional healing. Walker is the brilliant student Kirsten wants to be, but as the only black student in their private school, he’s got his own issues. Both come under the unwelcome attention of the school beauty and beast, Brianna, who is startlingly overt in her racism and genuinely mean, and as a result the pair become friends. Narration alternates between Kirsten and Walk, with Choldenko doing an impressive job of authentically representing both slightly whiny adolescent white girl and gently defiant black vernacular dialects. Kirsten’s well-plotted revenge against Brianna is hearteningly realistic, a convincing example of an underdog settling a bully without making things worse, and a truly surprising plot twist keeps things moving in a fresh direction. Though the end is somewhat abrupt, the complexity is sustained; Kirsten and Walk both have major adjustments to make, and they work on these without overly precocious levels of insight. This is a refreshingly honest look at how ordinary kids negotiate the soap-opera scenarios and emotional fallout that make up their family dynamics Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2006, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2007, Harcourt, 216p., $17.00. Grades 7-10.

Vikki Terrile (VOYA, October 2007 (Vol. 30, No. 4))
Kirsten cannot wait to start seventh grade. After a lousy summer during which one of her best friends moved and her parents did nothing but fight, school will be welcomed. But the new year does not go as planned when Kirsten's remaining friend turns on her to be accepted by the popular crowd, her mother hounds her about her emotional eating and weight gain, and a new student holds the key to a shocking family secret. Choldenko alternates chapters between Kirsten's first-person narration and the third-person perspective of Walk, an African American student new to Kirsten's private school and connected somehow to the reason why Kirsten's parents are fighting. Although Kirsten's voice is achingly authentic-self-deprecating and conflicted yet hopeful-the chapters from Walk's point of view seem awkward and interrupt the flow of the novel. Although Kirsten, Walk, and their classmates are barely thirteen, they seem much older. Late in the novel, Walk takes his mother's brand-new sports car for a spin without consequence, and the revelation that Kirsten's father is also Walk's father is a mature theme with which such young characters must deal. The novel touches on racism, eating disorders, and bullying, and one cannot help but feel that it would have been more memorable and compelling had Choldenko aged her characters a few years and let Kirsten tell the story in its entirety. VOYA CODES: 3Q 3P M J (Readable without serious defects; Will appeal with pushing; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9). 2007, Harcourt, 224p., $17. Ages 11 to 15.