My Epic Spring Break (Up)

December 1, 2020

Gr 7 Up-Ashley Bergen is a studious teenager who loves coding. Spring break is here and she's excited to find out if she was chosen for a summer internship at ZigZag, a social networking company, and to compete in the Hackathon, a marathon coding competition. But a talk with her lifelong friend Jason makes Ashley think she is not "making the most" of her high school years. When she discovers she didn't make the cut for ZigZag, she vows to have more fun, starting with reaching out to her crush, Walker Beech. They start dating; it's fun at first, but Ashley realizes she doesn't have much in common with Walker and he's a player. Meanwhile, Jason isn't thrilled about Ashley dating. And when things go south with Walker, Ashley finds herself thinking about how much better it would be if Jason were there instead. Ashley is smart, driven to succeed, and she confidently participates in a male-dominated activity. Her feelings waver between the two boys, creating a back and forth that drags at times. Some aspects of the story are unrealistic, and it's odd that Ashley is unaware of Jason's feelings for her. Race and ethnicity of the characters are not mentioned, but names throughout the story suggest some diversity among secondary characters. VERDICT The relationship piece of the story is predictable, but many readers will enjoy this light romance with STEM connections.-Lisa Buffi, Sterling M.S., VA

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2021
A spring break full of disappointment, bad choices, romance, tattoos--and self-realization. High school junior Ashley's ultimate goal is to leave Brooklyn behind and achieve success as a software engineer in Silicon Valley. Between being a mathlete, belonging to a coding club, and tutoring classmates in math, she has been doing everything she can to prove to colleges that she's dedicated to studying STEM. Ashley believes she'll have no trouble landing a summer internship with the popular social media platform ZigZag. However, her two-week spring break is off to a poor start when they send her a rejection letter. Frustrated with having tried to do everything right, when she runs into her crush, Walker, she decides to put herself out there and have more fun. Jason, Ashley's lifelong friend and literal boy next door, warns her that Walker is bad news, however. When Jason joins Ashley's coding team for a spring break hackathon, she starts to see something special in the boy who has been there all along. Ashley comes across as authentic and driven--but not consumed--by her ambitions, and the role of STEM in the story is both natural and noteworthy. Ashley's sometimes-misguided choices feel genuine, and her disappointments real. Main characters are White by default; surnames indicate some diversity in the supporting cast. Refreshing characters bring new life to classic romance tropes. (Romance. 12-18)

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