Plainstown High was weird in many ways, but one of its strangest rituals was the lap before the morning bell. PHS was designed in a square shape, and everyone would walk the hallways before homeroom each morning, like the school was some kind of large strolling track. Always clockwise. Always from around 7:15 a.m., when people would start streaming in from the parking lots, to 7:45 a.m., the first bell.
But that wasn’t the weirdest part. And I had been at four different schools and had seen a lot of weird. What was truly strange was that there was a system to the laps, a whole hierarchy compressed into the anything-but-leisurely strolls. People walked in friend clumps, picking up pals at their lockers, occasionally jettisoning one or two into their homerooms. It was like a traffic roundabout, but instead of cars, you had angsty adolescents.
Like everything else, where you walked was a direct indicator of who you were. The VIPs were in the inner circle. Social outcasts or those without a group would not walk; they would sit in homeroom. (That was me.) The unspoken rule was this: if Mitzi or her people were coming your way, you moved. Those who defied the rules faced consequences.
Olivia Chang’s method for staying invisible as the new Asian girl at several high schools has worked out for her. It’s lonely, but safe, and she’s pretty sure that is better.
Official synopsis:
And that is the end of her invisible life.
Soon, Olivia joins forces with the Nerd Net: a secret society that's been thwarting Mitzi’s reign of terror for months. Together, they plan to unite the masses and create true change at school.
But in order to succeed, Olivia must do something even more terrifying than lead a movement: trust other people. She might even make true friends along the way . . . if Mitzi doesn’t destroy her first.
What a unique book! Sometimes, the underdogs might get a chance to win, and this is their story. Olivia just can’t keep her mouth shut anymore when the most popular girl in her newest high school makes a racist comment blaming the Asian students for her own less-than-stellar grades. While Olivia initially regrets not holding on to her invisibility, she soon meets the secret Nerd Net, where she’ll find friends and maybe even love.
Besides just teen angst and drama, the story really makes use of Olivia’s interest in government and military strategy and structure. As the Nerd Net made plans of how to "even the playing field" at Plainstown High, Olivia weighed it all against her previous experiences, the lessons her grandfather and mother had taught about navigating the world, and what she had learned through her interest in history and governments.
While not necessarily the expected teen contemplations, Olivia’s assessments and reactions made the book so enjoyable and overall uplifting. The book earned 4 out of 5 stars and would be easy to recommend to any reader who enjoys contemporary YA fiction.
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Becki Bayley is a wife and mother of one teenager and one pre-teen. While they are sure to learn their own lessons in middle school and high school, books like this just remind her that some things may never change. Check out their adventures on her blog, SweetlyBSquared.com.
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