About This Book
Reach for this book when your child is transitioning to a new school and feels caught between the desire to fit in with the popular crowd and the instinct to be kind to someone who is different. It addresses the quiet, painful social pressure that middle schoolers face when their peers dictate who is worthy of friendship and who is an outcast. Jill has just moved from California to Massachusetts and finds herself at a crossroads: she can join the cool girls, or she can maintain her genuine bond with Dede, a neighbor with Down Syndrome. This story explores empathy, the weight of peer judgment, and the courage required to be a true friend. It is a realistic, grounded look at the social hierarchy of the 1980s that remains deeply relevant today for any child navigating the 'price' of popularity.
