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    You Go First
    You Go First
    You Go First
    Audiobook4 hours

    You Go First

    Written by Erin Entrada Kelly

    Narrated by Amielynn Abellera

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    Funny and poignant, Newbery Medalist and New York Times bestseller Erin Entrada Kelly’s national bestseller You Go First is an exploration of family, bullying, word games, art, and the ever-complicated world of middle school friendships.

    In a starred review, School Library Journal wrote that Erin Entrada Kelly can “capture moments of tween anguish with searing honesty.”  

    Twelve-year-old Charlotte Lockard and eleven-year-old Ben Boxer are separated by more than a thousand miles. On the surface, their lives seem vastly different—Charlotte lives near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, while Ben is in the small town of Lanester, Louisiana.

    Charlotte wants to be a geologist and keeps a rock collection in her room. Ben is obsessed with Harry Potter, presidential history, and recycling. But the two have more in common than they think. They’re both highly gifted. They’re both experiencing family turmoil. And they both sit alone at lunch.

    During the course of one week, Charlotte and Ben—friends connected only by an online Scrabble game—will intersect in unexpected ways as they struggle to navigate the turmoil of middle school. The New York Times-bestselling novel You Go First reminds us that no matter how hard it is to keep our heads above troubled water, we never struggle alone.

    Newbery Medalist Erin Entrada Kelly writes with an authentic, humorous, and irresistible voice. This engaging and character-driven story about growing up and finding your place in the world is for fans of Rebecca Stead and Rita Williams-Garcia.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateApr 10, 2018
    ISBN9780062821409
    Author

    Erin Entrada Kelly

    Erin Entrada Kelly was awarded the Newbery Medal for Hello, Universe and a Newbery Honor for We Dream of Space. She grew up in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and now lives in Delaware. She is a professor of children’s literature in the graduate fiction and publishing programs at Rosemont College, where she earned her MFA, and is on the faculty at Hamline University. Her short fiction has been nominated for the Philippines Free Press Literary Award for Short Fiction and the Pushcart Prize. Before becoming a children’s author, Erin worked as a journalist and magazine editor and received numerous awards for community service journalism, feature writing, and editing from the Louisiana Press Association and the Associated Press. Erin Entrada Kelly’s debut novel, Blackbird Fly, was a Kirkus Best Book, a School Library Journal Best Book, an ALSC Notable Book, and an Asian/Pacific American Literature Honor Book. She is also the author of The Land of Forgotten Girls, winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature; You Go First, a Spring 2018 Indie Next Pick; Lalani of the Distant Sea, an Indie Next Pick; Those Kids from Fawn Creek, named to numerous best-of-the-year lists; and three acclaimed novels for younger readers, Maybe Maybe Marisol Rainey, Surely Surely Marisol Rainey, and Only Only Marisol Rainey, which she also illustrated. She lives in Delaware.

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    Reviews for You Go First

    4/5

    84 ratings9 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Amazing! i love it so much! i can't believe I put this off for so long+

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I love middle grade books that are so realistic and emotionally developed like this one. The struggles of friendship in middle school are something I remember so strongly, and it is refreshing to read similar accounts in a book instead of a polished, happy, popular life.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Thanks to #kidlitexchange for the review copy of this book. All opinions are my own. ????You Go First by Erin Entrada Kelly. Charlotte is pulled out of Science class on Monday when her Dad is taken to the hospital. Charlotte is scared but being in middle school is complicated. Charlotte doesn't fit in with other girls at school and her only friend is Bridget. Then Bridget begins to pull away and one day while spying Charlotte learns Bridget doesn't want to be her friend. Meanwhile, Ben comes home from school on Monday to find his parents whispering in the kitchen and they tell him they are getting a divorce. Ben is angry but he doesn't have anyone to tell. He plunges into running for treasurer of the 6th grade but becomes the target of kids who are bullying him. Charlotte and Ben have been texting and talking on the phone but both pretend to be someone they aren't until Friday. On Friday both of their worlds get shook and they both realize sometimes friends are there you just have to learn to look for them. I didn't feel the ending of this book was final. It kind of just leaves you hanging wondering what happened. I also feel the parents in this book were just sort of absent. But over all a great middle school read. Recommended for ages 8 to 12 but high schoolers could learn a lesson or two in this book as well. Review also posted on Instagram @jasonnstacie, Goodreads/StacieBoren, Go Read, Amazon, and my blog at readsbystacie.com
    • 5/5
      Omg I have no words about this audio book and I say this about lots of audio books but this one with brilliant it's a thrilling classic and shows different thoughts and opinions from both sides of the story, literary! I love the drama and the storyline! It show that differences matter even though everyone says the opposite. Know one will ever get along it's just life, differences do matter it defines who you are and know one can change that, so no matter what you do you will never fit in and it's great to be unique! So I hope after you do listen to this book you think of this comment and you see what I mean if you don't already! Peace to you and the world:)
    • 3/5
      I keep trying to like Erin Entrada Kelly's works, but I think I'm just really not the intended audience. There's nothing wrong with this book at all, it's just not my cup of tea.
    • 3/5
      children's middlegrade (navigating middleschol 6th/7yh grade, changing friends, bullying)
      sweet story about one kid whose parents are going through an unexpected, though amicable, divorce and his online scrabble friend whose dad has just had a serious heart attack. Both kids are in real need of a good friend (though both kids do have loving parents). This is a pretty forgettable story, but young word pundits may enjoy the wordplay (which isn't a major feature) and other kids should be able to relate to feeling a bit lost and uncared for in the reality that is middle school.
    • 5/5
      Twelve-year-old Charlotte and 11-year-old Ben are both going through an extremely stressful week -- Charlotte's older father in hospital after a heart attack and Ben's parents have just announced to him that they are getting a divorce. Entering middle school has meant both tweens have grown apart from their elementary school friends and aren't sure who they can reach out to now. The pair -- who only know each other through a virtual Scrabble game -- begin talking to each other on the phone.This was a lovely book about the difficult feelings that often happen to middle school students -- losing old friends, making new friends, feeling lonely, feeling disconnected, dealing with school problems, dealing with home problems, worrying what everyone is thinking about them, and dealing with bullying and teasing. It was extremely heartfelt and I can imagine many children will see themselves in some of the situations presented. The power of friendship (as well as strong family bonds) is highlighted throughout.Using just one week of their lives was an interesting device, and Kelly manages to explore the characters in great depth by using memories of past events to fully flesh out the characters and storyline. Everything is not perfect by the end but the conclusion is optimistic. I would definitely recommend this to middle school students who will either recognize themselves in the characters and/or gain empathy for others they see at school or social events.
    • 4/5
      Charlotte and Ben live in different states but play each other on online Scrabble. They each are logical, gifted and smart and have few (if any) friends. To a certain extent, they are outcasts at school (Ben more so than Charlotte). Over the period of a week, unexpected events shake up their views of the world and their places in it: Charlotte's father has heart surgery and Ben's parents announce they are divorcing. The surgery highlights Charlotte's indifference to her father's appreciation of art and nature, and leads to her clearly seeing the demise of her friendship with Bridget. Ben runs for student council as a way to feel control over something after the divorce announcement, this despite that he's among the least popular kids in school and frequently bullied. Author Kelly is on point putting to voice the often confusing feelings of a child's loneliness. She has her finger on that pulse much like author Kevin Henkes. Very affecting and intimate reading.
    • 4/5
      This is the first book by Erin Entrada Kelly that I have read, and I may have to look into her other books. “You Go First” is a great book for middle school children. It addresses several of the issues that children in schools are dealing with – bullying, separation of parents, self-esteem, to name a few. The book is also about relationships. The author did a great job of addressing these issues in a believable manner. Ben (11) and Charlotte (12) live in separate states and have never met. They both are very intelligent and considered geeks or nerds among their peers. They met online and play Scrabble together. Neither has a friend to turn to when they have problems. The book covers one week in the life of these two as they tackle the challenges of being a teenager. Little do they know how much alike they are. And above all, they are there when they need each other.As I read the book I kept thinking to myself how lucky I was to grow up in a time when I did not have to deal with the bullying that so many children now encounter. My heart ached for Ben and Charlotte as they felt so alone, so alienated. And what do you do if you thought you had a best friend and that friend betrays you? All part of growing up, but nonetheless painful when it happens.The story moves slowly so this may not appeal to those who are used to a world where everything moves at the speed of light. But it does give hope to those struggling – letting them know they are not the only ones going through troubled times and that they can get through it.