Meant to Be, by Jo Knowles

Though most of my middle grade reading is sci fi/fantasy, I also enjoy escaping into other peoples reality with good non-magical mg fiction!  Case in point, this weekend's read--Meant to Be, by Jo Knowles (March 22, Candlewick).

We first met sisters Rachel and Ivy in Where the Heart Is, which ends with the family loosing their home out in the country and having to move to an apartment.  That book was mostly Rachel's story; this is Ivy's, and it stands alone just fine.

Ivy is happy with the new apartment home.  For the first time in her life, she has friends close at hand--Lucas and Alice, two other kids the same age as her.  Together they religiously watch a cooking show, and try to use the ingredients the contestants use in their own culinary experimentation (which is mostly successful).  She is not happy, though, that the her sister and parents can't see that the apartment, though small, is a great place to live. She just doesn't empathize with them.

And when Alice, who lives with her grandmother, gets sad news about her absent mother, whose troubles with addiction lead to her leaving Alice behind, Ivy missteps her response, straining their friendship almost to the breaking point.

With the help of the building superintendent, who's teaching Ivy how to fix things, she starts to realize that helping other people with their problems doesn't always mean doing what she, Ivy, things is best for them.  And though she still, at the end of the book, likes living in the apartment, and is still anxious because she doesn't want things to change, she's become quite a bit wiser and more considerate of other people's feelings.

Which isn't to say this is a preachy book!  It all happens naturally and warmly, and although I imagine that if I'd read this when I was ten or so I might have taken the message to heart, there's definitely enough happening (small things, but interesting ones) to make this a good story and a good read.  

Definitely one for kids who like sort of quite slice of life books, particularly for young foodies!  I myself would have put a cupcake prominently on the cover if I'd been designing it...the eggs and mixer do indicate the cooking, but not as appealingly, perhaps, as a nice cupcake!

short answer--I enjoyed it lots, and perhaps am an even more thoughtful person than I was before (?)

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher (thanks!)