The Best at It

last year my work friend Anna and I both went to the same library conference but I got sick halfway through the morning and had to leave early, and the next day we had this conversation

me: what'd I miss?
Anna: Well, Jonathan from 30 Rock was there
me: WHAT
Anna: Yeah I guess he wrote a middle grade book and I was like OMG it's Jonathan from 30 Rock but nobody else cared
me: I WOULD HAVE CARED
Anna: I KNOW

Anyway, this is Jonathan from 30 Rock's book! It's funny and I think will be a good window/mirror situation for a lot of kids–the main character Rahul is one of few Indian-American kids in his small town and increasingly pretty sure he's gay. Anyway, it's overall a fun school story that has elements I think a lot of kids will relate to. I do have a few reservations about the ending:

Not STOKED about the strong implication that Brent the bully was only bullying Rahul for being gay because Brent was also gay?? I know that's a sort of common trope for school bullying stories in general but the idea that homophobes are all secretly gay is icky and more and more being called out?Also the way the narrative slowly built up Rahul's anxiety and (not-quite-diagnosed) OCD was interesting...but then it felt way too quickly resolved? Still, nice to see it addressed with therapy etc but maybe could have used like...one more chapter.)