A Good Kind of Trouble: A Compelling Coming-of-Age Story About Making a Difference for Children (Ages 8–12)

Good read

My daughter is 10 and is will be starting 5th grade this August, 2022. My daugther is very sweet and has a nice personality but I get on her so much when it comes to practice on her reading. She does not like to do work, read, study.... nothing. I have been very stressed out as a mom trying to encourage her to read and take education seriously. I got on here looking for some books for her to read that I thought she may be interested in. I kept coming across this book for a while but never purchased it because I was scared it would be a waste of money as I have bought so many books in the past from school book fairs and they still sitting up til this day. Anyways, I kept seeing this book on Amazon and good reviews so I said im give it a shot. We received the book and I gave it to my daughter and told her I got her a book she can practice on reading. She gave me this weird look but she said okay. When I tell yall she been reading this book non stop, laughing and running and telling me something funny in the book. All she say is "ma I really love this book" and I swear it made me feel so good! There was this part in the book she was telling me about where it said, "when I see that person passing by I tend to clutch my pearls" or something like that... She just fell out laughing at that part. When I tell yall everyday she picked this book up reading and telling me things from the book I felt so great as a mother. Long story short, buy it for your kids! If it can help my child who dont even like to read or engage in anything educational then that should tell you something. I guess we just have to find things that our kids will enjoy reading verses some thick book thats blah and boring. I plan to order more books from this author. Sorry for making this review long, I just felt the need to share our experience as Im a mom who just wanted to give up.

The girl in this book is in seventh grade, but at least in my area, sixth graders begin middle school. My oldest granddaughter will be starting this strangest of growing-up experiences next year. Unlike Shayla, the protagonist in Lisa Moore Ramée's debut chapter book, my granddaughter is starting in a new school knowing very few students. I wish her well in navigating this time, hope she will find courage as Shayla did. Twelve-year-old Shayla is allergic to trouble, so much so that when she's really upset or nervous, inside, her hands itch. She really values following the rules and is looking forward to starting seventh grade with the United Nations (her two best friends from grade school). Soon enough Shay realizes that rules change when kids get older. They want to be liked, girls and boys both. Her two friends are of different backgrounds, Latina and Asian. Shayla is black. Each wants something different and in this story, that means some disagreements, perhaps even friendships broken. Some at school are saying she's not black enough, doesn't mix enough with her black classmates! Different boys like Shayla, but she likes other boys. Sound familiar. Young teens are trying to figure out who they are, and Shay struggles with it all, too. Teachers and the principal also play a part in her life, mostly good, but when it comes to what's really important, Shay does figure out what is most important to her, wearing an armband to school in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Shay's older sister Hannah is involved in protests, but at first, as I wrote earlier, Shay really doesn't like breaking rules. She's learned from others, including her coach while doing track. And she's thinking more about what her favorite history teacher is saying, that we have to be ourselves, no matter what. What I loved was reading the thoughts of this marvelous young woman that Lisa Moore Ramée has given us. If you know a young adolescent, you'll see how much they think about life and stuff, over and over again. Ramée has Shayla ending each chapter with a bit of learning, showing her grow and grow until she feels good about what happens, what she does even though it takes lots of courage. For example, Shayla says: "I never knew walking right into trouble would make me feel strong. Maybe it has to be the right type of trouble." It's a wonderful book that's so current, it feels as if Ramée wrote it yesterday. There are the students, the varied teachers, and the protests over another police officer getting off the hook for a shooting. It's about today!

I used to teach middle school so when my cousin recommended this book I got it. I could relate to the working class family but I really related to Shay. She found her comfort level and thought life would not change. Over the course of her seventh grade year everything she thought was real turns out to be not what she thought. I appreciated Shay’s parents & Isabella’s moms protective teachings. We are constantly reminding our children not to grown up so fast & take it slow. Shay wants to wear makeup and have a boyfriend at 12. That hasn’t changed! Most important is the the reminder of using caution in environments hostile to us. (It would be interesting to have Julia’s parents contribute to the story. )The layers of bigotry in in each culture were touched on. As a parent who showed her face regularly at my son’s school I can so cheer Shay’s mom. It’s a fine line to support your child and not put them in the crosshairs of the powers that be. I will keep this author on my list for gifting the young bloods.

I thought it was a good coming of age story in the BLM time. Shay and her girlfriends Isabella and Julia are known as "the United Nations", one African American, one Puerto Rican and one Chinese. Shay is teased by her sister Hana as not having any black friends and letting Shay know the United Nations won't always be together. Hana is front and center at the BLM protests and walks in their town as tensions rise over police shooting of a man in the back as he walks away with his hands up. Shay is dealing with tensions from what her white class mates think about black lives matter as they yell back, all lives matter or blue lives matter. She must also come to terms with liking a boy who likes her friend Isabella and learning to be nice to those boys who happen to be crushing on her. Really good story showing how Shayla comes into her own through discipline of track and making a stand for what she feels is right.

Lisa Ramee's debut has been hailed as "the Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry for this generation," and that praise is well-earned. This middle grade book deals with race, acceptance, friendship, and identity in a pitch perfect, delightfully readable way. Shayla hates trouble so much, it makes her hands itch. But when another unarmed black man is shot by police, Shayla wants to do *something.* So she starts wearing a Black Lives Matter arm band to school. She's not protesting. She's not rallying others to the cause. She just wants to show her belief that being Black is important and valuable. But to some, Shayla isn't Black enough. And to others, she's suddenly too Black. Where does she fit in? Even her closest friendships are starting to unravel, and Shayla isn't sure what to do. With prose so clear and precise, you feel you're actually talking with 12 year olds in the best possible way, A GOOD KIND OF TROUBLE is a warm, funny, thoughtful, and deeply important book. Kids will love it, and adults will value its insightful discussion of race, racial politics, and belonging. HIGHLY recommended for all classrooms and school libraries!

Lisa Ramee's poignant debut is a pitch perfect contemporary middle grade--reading it threw me back into the high drama of fragmenting friendships, cliques, innocent seventh grade boy problems, and Moms who draw the line at twelve year olds wearing makeup. Ramee nails the fraught nature of standing up and standing out when you're in seventh grade, along with the difficulties of negotiating mixed signals, missed cues, and misinterpretations of other people's behavior. Reading A Good Kind of Trouble, you can't help but be entirely immersed in what it feels like to be 12. But the real beating heart of this novel is Shay's budding awareness of social responsibility and political activism, and her sweet, heartfelt struggles to understand and articulate her feelings, her boundaries, and her needs clearly. As the Black Lives Matter movement gathers steam in her community, Shay is beginning to fully understand some painful realities about the world, and the way those realities can cause stresses in the community and even in the most solid of friendships. This beautiful story is so honest about the frictions and difficulties and hard choices Shay has to make. You'll cry, cheer, and applaud her courage and newfound maturity. I would seriously recommend this book for every middle grade reader and classroom. It's important and timely and hopeful and very, very moving.

very applicable reading for the time we are living in. I read it and then gifted it to the preteen who I original purchased it for.