Keeping Pace by Laurie Morrison [MG Review]

Summary 💬

Grace has been working for years to beat her former friend Jonah Perkins’s GPA so she can be named top scholar of the eighth grade. But when Jonah beats her for the title, it feels like none of Grace’s academic accomplishments have really mattered. They weren’t enough to win—or to impress her dad. And then the wide, empty summer looms. With nothing planned and no more goals or checklists, she doesn’t know what she’s supposed to be working toward.

Eager for something to occupy her days, Grace signs up for a half-marathon race that she and Jonah used to talk about running together. Jonah’s running it, too. Maybe if she can beat Jonah on race day, she’ll feel OK again. But as she begins training with Jonah and checking off a new list of summer goals, she starts to question what—and who—really matters to her. Is winning at all costs really worth it?

Goodreads

Review ✍🏻

Keeping Pace marks my first read by Laurie Morrison, an author who writes contemporary upper middle grade. A former teacher, she’s “passionate about crafting upper middle grade books for 10-14-year-old readers like the students I used to teach” (source). Last year, she published on her website an overview about the publishing gap of books for readers transitioning from middle grade to young adult, including a working list of titles with 13 or 14 year old protagonists. Keeping Pace has several commonalities to Morrion’s previously published works – which is a good thing! There remains a need for books for kids who transitioning from middle to high school.

Keeping Pace explores several different layers of relationships with family and friends, as well as a budding romantic relationship which is uncommon in middle grade. Grace is navigating challenges and changes with her older sister Celia, her Mom, her Dad, her Dad’s new girlfriend Brie and the girlfriend’s young son Ted, and her cousin/BFF Avery. Most of those supporting characters are also dealing with their own stuff, reflecting one of the main themes of the novel: striving to achieve for achievement’s sake vs enjoying a process while you’re working through it. I’m going to leave my thoughts on achievement out of this post because they’re not totally relevant. Suffice to say I think this book present a fair message that could be beneficial for kids like Grace.

Anyway, I want to highlight the family dynamics a bit more, as they aren’t fully touched on in the jacket copy. Here’s a wee list to break up the paragraphs of this post lol:

• Feeling isolated from the bond that her Mom and Celia have
• Navigating the distanced relationship with her Dad, as well as the book he’s recently published
• Babysitting Brie’s son and developing a fondness for the two after an uneasy start

There’s something about Grace’s voice that feels richly authentic. I don’t read a lot of upper middle grade myself (or have much experience with kids that age), so I can’t quite pinpoint what it is, but I felt a clear difference between how Grace expresses her hopes, worries, fears, and actions when compared to the voice of a younger middle schooler. I remember well the difference between myself in grade 5 or 6 vs grade 7 or 8. There are some cultural differences between school in Canada and US but it’s still a big deal to move up to high school!

I like the trope of creating a summer to do list – it’s a classic yet realistic way of framing a story. Grace draws up her list with some intervention from Celia and Avery. The list helps give Grace’s summer some direction. Trying new things, growing up in preparation for high school, expanding one’s social circle… it made me long for the summers of my youth, haha.

I didn’t anticipate going in to this story how much of a romance angle there would be. There were enough hints in the build up, though, that it didn’t surprise me when it started to emerge. It was kind of cute the things Grace was noticing about Jonah – things you wouldn’t typically note in someone who’s just meant to be your academic rival – without acknowledging that those might be signs that she actually does like him… Personally, I don’t care to read about romance. I’m all about the complicated friendships and navigating the fall out of a precipitating event lol. But that does also apply to Grace and Jonah’s relationship anyway, so even I can appreciate this well-tempered romance (not mushy at all!).

Lastly: I adore contemporary middle grade novels shouting out other middle grades novels. I caught references to Rajani LaRocca’s Red, White, and Whole and Cindy Baldwin’s No Matter the Distance.

The Bottom Line 💭

While there’s a lot going on in Keeping Pace, Grace’s strikingly real voice and experiences, including her growing pains with achivement and romance, help this book stand out amongst other contemporary middle grade titles.

Further Reading 📰

🍂 Author website
🍂 Interview with Afoma @ Reading Middle Grade
🍂 Reviews: Mark @ Mark My Words, anyone else?
🍂 Related: For more contemporary middle grade reads that explore changing friendships, see my thoughts on Elly Swartz’s Hidden Truths, Cathleen Barnhart’s That’s What Friends Do, or Lin Thompson’s The Best Liars in Riverview. For a devatasing middle grade romance, check out Kate Fussner’s The Song of Us. (Out of these titles, That’s What Friends Do and The Song of Us are closest to ‘upple middle grade’.)

What kept you busy during summer break as a kid?
Do you have any recommendations for upper middle grade reads?