Izzy Kline Has Butterflies

I admit I read things like this in order to recommend it to other readers. I mean, that's what a children's librarian DOES. So, while I found this to be sweet.....I don't know if it is enough of a work on its own. What I mean is the story eludes to other works that, if a reader is not familiar with them, can be off-putting and/or confusing. Maybe I'm the wrong age for this. Perhaps if I were older than I am and was currently raising a fourth grader then I could explain why Free to Be...You and Me was a thing. I had to put the book down and watch a bit of it on Youtube and I think it's one of those “you had to be there” AND you had to be there at the right time to get the appeal of it.
All of this aside, I take this to mean that this book is written more for an adult's entertainment than a child's. And, so, the deduction of stars. It might loan itself as a mother/daughter book club pick, but I am searching for books I can put into the hand's of independent readers.