Book Review: Pippa Park Raises Her Game

Author:
 
Summary from Goodreads: “Pippa is a magnetic heroine, funny and good-hearted.”―Booklist

Readers will cheer on Korean American Pippa Park in this compelling middle grade reimagining of Great Expectations. Navigating friendships and cyberbullying at a new school, Pippa reinvents herself and discovers who she really is.

Life is full of great expectations for Korean American Pippa Park. It seems like everyone, from her family to the other kids at school, has a plan for how her life should look. So when Pippa gets a mysterious basketball scholarship to Lakeview Private, she jumps at the chance to reinvent herself by following the “Rules of Cool.”

At Lakeview, Pippa juggles old and new friends, an unrequited crush, and the pressure to perform academically and athletically while keeping her past and her family’s laundromat a secret from her elite new classmates. But when Pippa begins to receive a string of hateful, anonymous messages via social media, her carefully built persona is threatened.

As things begin to spiral out of control, Pippa discovers the real reason she was admitted to Lakeview and wonders if she can keep her old and new lives separate, or if she should even try.

Personal Review:
I enjoyed this book. I found it a good book about thinking about who you are, who your friends are, and what does it mean to be in a new place. I find that those could be really powerful themes for students as they think about school.

The book was upbeat and we watched as Pippa dealt with a variety of issues that can be very tough to navigate. Thank you for the opportunity to read this one.

 Disclaimer: I was awarded this book from the Publisher Though I did not pay for the book, the opinions are strictly my own.

Happy Reading!