*Just Like That by Gary D. Schmidt - Shine Global Network

Just Like That, Gary Schmidt’s latest book for teens, humorously and poignantly explores love and loss.

Just Like That by Gary D. Schmidt. Clarion, 2021. 400 pages.

Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 12 and up

Recommended For: Young Adult, ages 12 and up

In September, Meryl Lee Kowalski arrives at St. Elene’s Preparatory Academy for Girls (in Harpswell, Maine), suitcases packed with regulation school uniforms.

She would have a new start, her parents said. A whole new routine, her parents said. She would meet so many new friends. She would become so Accomplished. That’s what the headmistress had promised. ~p. 4

By Christmas, Meryl Lee still wasn’t sure what she becoming Accomplished in, even though she was urged to have Resolve. It certainly wasn’t lacrosse. It wasn’t English class because her English teacher thought Meryl Lee’s reading choices (The Grapes of Wrath and The Wizard of Oz) weren’t Refined. And, apparently, those promised new friends weren’t supposed to include the staff girls, only the actual students at St. Elene’s Preparatory Academy for Girls.

By September, Matt Coffin had already been living in Harpswell, Maine, for some time. A teen on the run, he’d just showed up at some point and moved into Captain Cobb’s old shack by the water. And by September, Mrs. MacKnockater, the aforementioned headmistress, had taken Matt under her wing, feeding him with both food and stories.

Parallel stories have a way of converging, and Matt’s and Meryl Lee’s stories are no different. Schmidt’s latest novel connects characters from both The Wednesday Wars and Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy. Picking up directly after The Wednesday Wars (and several decades after Lizzie Bright), Just Like That poignantly brings together people who are wounded and in desperate need of hope and friendship. Meryl Lee does indeed become Accomplished through much Resolve, and Matt quits running. But they bring many people along with them on the road to redemption and reconciliation. I once heard Schmidt say that he writes about that pivotal time when young people are in the midst of turning from childhood to adulthood; they are standing on the threshold, as it were. Just Like That might be the pitch perfect novel for that sweet spot, full of humor and heartbreak, young love and old love, national turmoil (the Vietnam War) and small town upheaval. It will break your own heart on page 2, but healing occurs over the next 398 pages.

Considerations:

Although this book might technically be a “middle grades” novel, it explores significant emotional issues in such a way that most young readers will better appreciate the book as a young teen than an upper “middle grade” student. For those familiar with Schmidt’s work, this book is more like Okay for Now than The Wednesday Wars in maturity level.There is some kissing in this book. (It’s very teen-friendly, but it might be the first time I’ve encountered this dynamic in a Schmidt work, Orbiting Jupiter aside.) This book opens with the death of a friend of Meryl Lee’s; Matt also suffered the (violent) death of loved ones prior to the story’s opening. Much of the book centers on grief and its effects.A couple of instances of bad language, but they are in keeping with the plot/character.Discussion points include: when is it okay to hide the truth from the authorities (including “official” authorities like the police, but also including general adult authorities)? When is it okay to protest the authorities and rules? What does a true friend look like? How can we be true friends? (hint: this has a lot to do with “how can we love our neighbors?”) Finally, “what is our only comfort in life and in death?“Overall Rating: 4.75 out of 5

Worldview/Moral Rating: 4.75 out of 5Literary/Artistic Rating: 5 out of 5*indicates a starred review

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