I had the opportunity to read a NetGalley digital ARC of this middle grade novel in exchange for a review. Young readers will have a lot of fun accompanying Mia on her quest to help her grandmother’s cricket farm become successful. Mia and her family have moved back to Vermont because Mia’s entomologist grandmother has recently suffered a stroke and Mia’s parents want to help her recover. But there seems to be a lot of misfortune with the cricket farm and Mia’s grandmother believes that someone is trying to sabotage it. After so many disastrous occurrences, Mia is starting to think that her grandmother may be right.
Mia’s new friends help investigate several of the main suspects. While that’s happening, Mia is also trying to recover from an injury that she sustained from a gymnastics accident. While her physical injury has healed, she still suffers from an emotional trauma that she has kept secret from her parents. There’s plenty of mystery, along with characters that will be inspiring to young women who aspire to pursue their dreams and become whoever they wish to become.
I love that the characters are natural and authentic. So many kids will be able to recognize themselves in this book, which is so important. The book addresses important issues, such as abusive and misogynistic behavior especially towards young women, support for young women who are interested in participating in STEM activities, and sustainable food options that incorporate insects into the diet. I’m still not sure that I’m ready to try eating a cricket (even if it does come in tasty flavors like barbecue, garlic, or maple), but this book has me thinking about it more and more!

This is an important book about finding the courage to speak up even when you feel scared and unsure about what is happening. Kate Messner takes an important topic and weaves it into an interesting story that is appropriate for middle grade children.

My access point for this book was entomophagy, an area of fascination for me. That interest was stronger than my hesitation to read a Messner novel. I've read a couple of her books in the past and haven't especially enjoyed them. Once I got a couple of chapters into this particular novel, I was hooked. There's a lot going on: making new friends, STEM, athletics, business skills, a mystery, and personal secrets that drive much of Mia's behavior. I appreciated that there were some very serious, complex issues presented in this novel and they were given appropriate weight. Dealing with bullies is often dismissed as a kid issue. In this book we see how that translates in the business world, especially as it applies to women in business. And the conclusion drawn is that there is no fix, that it's something we just have to deal with but that we can make it better by refusing to be quiet about it. Additionally, we see the path forward from a difficult situation. That when we lose a part of ourselves we have to let that loss go and learn from it to move forward. With an emotionally dark undercurrent, this is not what you'd call a gentle or innocent novel. But for a kid with some emotional maturity or even just one in need of some empowerment it could spark some great discussion.

Kate Messner’s new middle grade novel, Chirp, is kind of the #MeToo movement in book form. Mia is moving back to Vermont after a stint in Boston that resulted in her breaking her arm and giving up gymnastics for good. As the story begins, Mia is afraid of just about everything; she’d prefer to spend all of her time sitting on the couch watching reality TV, but her mom makes her sign up for two camps “one for the brain and one for the body.” During Launch Camp (an entrepreneurial camp) and Warrior Camp (think American Ninja Warrior), Mia begins to make new friends, and find the courage she needs to speak up. Will that be enough for her to tell the truth about what happened to her?

All of this typical middle grade growth is also jammed in with a mystery. Mia’s grandma has opened up a cricket farm, and someone is trying to sabotage her. Can Mia and her new friends figure out who is behind these devastating attacks to the crickets and save the farm from certain failure? This was my favorite part of this book. I loved learning about how a cricket farm works, and all the different ways that crickets can become food (for humans!). It was a lot of fun experiencing all the twists along with the characters, and celebrating when the culprit is caught.

What I struggled with in this novel was the way the #metoo topics were handled. Every female character in this book has a story of being sexually harassed. While, that in itself is not at all unrealistic, the way these stories are revealed felt very forced. It almost felt like each occurrence was scripted: the topic of what its like to be a women comes up, a female character reveals her story of being sexually harassed, Mia thinks “I didn’t realize this happened to other people.” Every. Single. Time. This is such an important topic, and I am so excited to see a middle grade book addressing it, I just wish it had been done a little more smoothly.

Overall, this is a delightful story of growing up, finding your passions, and finding your voice. I would be happy to put this in the hands of any of my 3rd – 6th grade patrons, especially ones who can’t get enough contemporary fiction. Chirp is a familiar story, but surrounded by unique people, places, and adventures.

In Kate Messner's Chirp, young Mia and her family move from Boston to Vermont to help her grandmother sell her cricket farm. Turns out her grandmother has no desire to sell her cricket farm, especially since she's pretty sure the one who wants to buy it is trying to run her out of business. Suddenly Mia is torn between worry about her grandma's health and trying to solve the mystery of who could be sabotaging the success of the cricket farm. Not to mention that Mia is also leaving behind a complicated life as a gymnast which included Olympic dreams, a devastating injury, and a huge secret.
I think that generations of kids are going to see themselves in Mia's story. Ok, so maybe they won't all demand that crickets be considered as an eco-friendly protein source, but hopefully they will adopt her determination and know that even the smallest voices can make the biggest change!
Recommended for grades 5-9

Mia’s family is moving to Vermont at the end of her 7th grade year where she'll be closer to her aging grandmother who runs a cricket farm. Once an accomplished gymnast, Mia isn’t sure where her new interests lie now that she is healing from a balance beam injury (which required surgery on her arm). So she agrees to attend two summer camp opportunities in her new city — launch camp (a maker space for kids) and Warrior camp. At the maker space camp she makes a new set of friends and builds a team of people who rely on one another’s strengths. Mia’s big maker space project will hopefully boost her grandmother’s cricket farm by using robotic technology and social media hashtags. At the warrior camp, Mia must face her inner fears and take baby steps as she regains muscle strength and endurance.

As the maker space team works on their project, they soon discover someone is attempting to sabotage the cricket farm. This means a little dangerous undercover work for Mia in an attempt to uncover the culprit and prevent future damage. But as different people become potential suspects, it’s easy to jump to conclusions. In the meantime, Mia learns of the importance of opening up about uncomfortable experiences she’s had with an adult in her previous town. She learns that inappropriate touch and sexual harassment happen far more than we realize and that speaking out can be healing for yourself and helpful for others who may have experienced the same pain.

With the development of valuable friendships, learning how to communicate with parents, the inclusion of technology and social media, the mystery of sabotage, and deciding on whether to report an abuser, this book is very full and yet quite well-rounded. I was so pleased that it ended on a very happy and comforting note. And I just know it will be loved by so many middle graders who will relate to Mia’s arsenal of experiences, in one way or another. It would also make a wonderful read aloud, but be sure to order some edible crickets to share with listeners! My thanks to Netgalley and to Bloomsbury for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. Chirp will be released tomorrow, so go out and pre-order your copy TODAY!

I really enjoyed this book. The writing was excellent and very realistic. The family dynamics were great, as well as the friendships. There was a tiny bit of a mystery involving Mia’s grandmother’s cricket farm which kept the ice up. There was also the issue of harassment that women face on a daily basis whether at school, at work, or in sports. It is a sad reality and I am glad that Messner added that in. It was handled in a delicate but powerful way and I hope it helps one child speak up and not feel so alone. Great character development. I’d hand this to 4th-6th graders looking for realistic fiction that is deep but fun.

This book has layers of plot lines, and I love it!

First, Mia and her family just moved to live near her grandmother, who owns a cricket farm. Yes, a cricket farm. To make food with them. Barbecue crickets. Maple crickets. and more! Mia and her grandmother are really close, so when she learns that Gram’s farm is in danger of closing down due to sabotage and lack of funding, Mia knows she has to do something.

Layer one: Who is sabotaging the farm? Mia and two friends go all Nancy Drew to investigate and gather clues.

Layer two: How are they going to raise an impossible amount of money to keep the farm going? Mia has ideas to drum up some business for the farm, but she’s not sure if it will work.

Layer three: Mia is recovering from a very bad broken arm. She was a gymnast until she broke the arm. Now, she can’t even look at the equipment without feeling horrible. Can she ever recover mentally from this? She has a secret she’s keeping from everyone. How is she going to find the courage to tell someone? Who can she trust with this secret?

How was the Story?
I just finished reading it. Messner is a masterful writer. I adore this book! I was a fun story but it involves a very serious topic. She handled this very well. She handled it in a way that is appropriate for middle school children. (See below the spoiler warning if you want to know more about this.)

I enjoyed the way this author wove several different storylines together with one very important theme.

What Can We Learn from Messner?
My biggest takeaway from her writing was her ability to ratchet up the tension or the stakes at the end of each chapter. This makes it very hard to put the book down at a chapter break.

Here are a few examples from the beginning of the book (so I won’t spoil anything too big!)

“Mishap? No.” Gram pointed her broom at the birds. “This is sabotage.”

End of Chapter 1
AGH! How does she know that someone is sabotaging her farm? Who is sabotaging her farm? The way this is phrased and placed is important to creating the tension. You want readers to be asking questions like this that further the plot (not questions because they are confused).

Additionally, readers, especially voracious readers are known for doing a little skimming, especially when they really get into the story and can’t wait to get to see what happens. (guilty here! Who else is in this camp?) When these readers skim, they often read first and last sentences of a paragraph, so it is important to place information strategically like this as the last sentence of the chapter.


“We’re out of options here. It’s either come up with new investors or shut down the farm.”

End of Chapter 3
Here the stakes went way up! The farm her Gram loves is in danger of being shut down. I know she’s going to try to help save the farm, so how is she going to do that? Will she succeed?

Maybe Mia didn’t have a robot in progress, or a completely coded app, or two boxes of recycled jewelry ready to go. But she had some ideas. And that was a start.

End of chapter 4
This is the moment in which the book really grabbed my attention. Before this moment, I was reading a story with some pretty good stakes, but I’ve seen that all before. Now we have a character that was being proactive. 16% of the way into the story we are at the tipping point from reactive to proactive. Often that doesn’t happen until midpoint in the story. This is one of many reasons I love this story.

When Mia moves to Vermont she wants to put her gymnastics, her broken arm, and some other things behind her. She gets involved with her grandmother's cricket farm, and at her mother's insistence she joins a few summer groups. In one, she comes up with a plan to help her grandmother's crickets while the other works on healing her body. But someone seems to be sabotaging her grandmother's business and she is also having trouble forgetting what happened to her. Can she solve the mystery and open up to those who care about her?
This was well done - a good mystery with the additional layer of some unwanted attention and how Mia finally started working through it.

A story with a weird grandma who grows crickets as food?! Yes please! A little bit mystery, a little bit about finding out who your true friends are and who you really want to be. It’s a delightful middle school book and I can’t wait to give it to readers this summer at the library.

I have loved everything I have read by Kate Messner, so I was really looking forward to this book. She surpassed my high expectations.

Chirp is a beautifully told story. Mia is in Vermont for the summer, dealing with new activities, friends, and helping out her grandmother. She is also dealing with a secret. The plot and character development are simply masterful.

The mystery of who might be sabotaging the cricket farm is also developed nicely. I loved how Messner discusses other middle grade mysteries, via Mia's friend, Clover's love of mysteries.

Ideally this book will be available in all middle schools. I think it pairs naturally with Kelly Yang's Parachutes, for teens who are a bit more mature. Both tackle the issue of sexual harassment/abuse beautifully.

Highly recommend, Chirp!

Elementary schools need this book. I found Chirp to be a fascinating mystery I will be recommending to my third through fifth graders and their teachers! It is full of friendship and finding out that you are never too young to make a difference as main character, Mia, and her friends work really hard to help save her grandmother's cricket farm, which is being sabotaged!

I also loved that Kate Messner included a very gentle, but extremely important story line where Mia needs to talk to an adult about feeling uncomfortable with advances from another adult. It was not graphic, but instead focused on letting someone know if you feel uncomfortable with an adult's attentions before they escalate.

And finally, who knew that crickets could be so interesting!?! I am still not sure that I am brave enough to try eating them, but this was an eye-opening book that melds an intriguing story and environmental issues masterfully!

As shown in some of her earlier books such as The Seventh Wish, Kate Messner knows how to take complicated topics that are important to discuss with teens and write it in a way that teens and even tweens can easily access. In the case of both Chirp and The Seventh Wish, readers might see a cover that does not look to serious (in the latter case, I have to really sell that book to older elementary readers) but inside they will find a plot that has a lot going on. Chirp follows Mia as she moves back to a town in Vermont feeling like less than herself as she is still recovering, emotionally, from a gymnastics accident. She is also dealing with some family strife as her parents don't agree with how to handle her grandmother's failing business venture. Mia for her part, really wants to help her grandmother and does so in a practical sense and also gets involved in trying to solve a mystery behind the businesses struggles. For me though, all of these things are secondary to the way Messner handles the way several of her characters deal with some form of sexual harassment. The quiet (at times) courage and bravery that several women show in persevering and making sure their voice is heard make this a book that has mystery, a fun MG friendship plot and also a book that uses the best lessons from the #metoo movement.

I think this is a critical book to hand to the girls in your life. The simple solidarity that all the women in the story show amazed me. The author told some hard truths in a simple, believable,/related way. It'll make kids and adults think about their assumptions and actions.

After several years away, Mia and her family are moving back to her hometown to be closer to her grandmother as she recovers from a stroke and prepares to sell her business. At least, that's what they thought the plan was. In reality, Gram has no intention of selling her cricket farm, not if she can help it. Despite the fact that Mia would prefer to spend her summer just helping Gram at the farm, Mia's mother insists she join a couple camps to keep busy. Mia begrudgingly enrolls in Launch Camp, where participants work on developing their own inventions or business plans like her favorite show Deal with the Sharks, and Warrior Camp, where kids get to work out at a special training gym for her other favorite show, American Warrior Challenge. Warrior Camp happens to be in the same warehouse as Gram's farm, so she'll be close by to help out. It also shares warehouse space with a gymnastics gym, a fact that makes Mia very uncomfortable when she discovers its proximity.

Until an accident last year that severely broke her arm, Mia was an avid gymnast with Olympic dreams. But all that changed when she fell off the beam. She tries to push down all memory of that day and what happened, but it becomes harder and harder as the summer goes on. Fortunately, she does make friends with a girl who happens to be at both her camps, and they decide to use their time at Launch Camp to come up with ways to save Gram's cricket farm. The problems seem stacked against her: even though she seems to be recovering well from her stroke, things keep happening at the farm that have Gram talking about sabotage. If one more thing goes wrong, she will be forced to sell... unless Mia and her friend can figure out who is behind it. 

As their investigation picks up, Mia is forced to confront some secrets she's kept buried for the last year. Secrets that are very much connected to why she finds it difficult to trust and why she cringes passing the gymnastics gym.

The story here is fine - the mystery is fairly predictable, and the friendships seem a bit too easy from my experience of middle school girls. But where this book shines is in Messner's portrayal of Mia's real and complicated internal life. Mia has a lot pent up inside her and these feelings feel incredibly authentic - at times heartbreaking:

"Even though she was older and taller now, she felt smaller somehow. As if her body was growing like it was supposed to, but inside, the rest of her was shrinking."

Further, she has smart, strong, inspirational women around and behind her that give her the safety to express those feelings:

"'Sometimes courage is quiet,' Gram said. 'You were brave to speak up today, Mia. But you were brave before that, too. Sometimes getting up in the morning and being you, no matter what's happened to you and no matter what anybody says, is the bravest, most defiant thing a woman can do.'"

I think this book will touch many of its readers and will provide them with the courage to express things they've been burying. That's what literature is meant to do for its readers, and this does it so well.

Thanks to Bloomsbury Children's Books via NetGalley for the eGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was expecting a cute story about a girl helping her grandma out with a cricket farm. I was surprised. This story had a lot of layers and was very in tune with what's happening. I liked the characters and the mystery of what happened to Mia kept me wanting to read quickly. I did see the direction the story was going with Mia and with the sabotage, but the story was still good.

The characters in this book were very likeable & their experiences were revealed in a beautiful way. The pacing was spot on and everything felt like it came at the right moment. The ideas for the business were relevant for the times and inspiring to readers. The mother and grandmother addressing the experience with the gymnastics couch was eloquent and supportive. The author’s note at the end was just as eloquent and supportive. An important and enjoyable book.

I received an electronic ARC from Bloomsbury Children's Books through NetGalley.
Messner creates characters that are relatable and share stories readers can relate to. Sadly, in this book we see a young girl (Mia) who gives up a sport she loved after a severe injury on the beam. As the story progresses, readers watch the real reason come to light. Mia's coach made some unwelcome contacts and uncomfortable touches that frightened her. She opted for silence as she didn't think anyone would believe her. Hence, the title - male crickets speak; females remain silent.
Through making new friends and observing how several generations of women have dealt with similar situations, she begins to get her bravery and boldness back. Again, Messner has presented a realistic picture that female readers will relate to if they've faced similar situations.
Before the story ends, Mia finds the courage to share with her mother and grandmother. Readers see her move through the normal phases involved and watch her conquer her fear of the beam and jumping into the water to reclaim herself.

When I saw that Kate Messner had a book on @netgalley, I had to request it. Kate is one of my all time favorite middle grade writers. In the book, Chirp, she once again knocks it out of the park and shows her flexibility of a writer. While at first I thought it would be a great read aloud for grade three, I quickly realized that the book is slightly too sophisticated for the average 8 year old. I would highly recommend this book to grade 4 and above. What I had originally thought was a book about a cricket farm, quickly turned into a young lady finding her voice. Having grown up in a time when women’s voices were not heard, this book is a shout out to women every where, but told through the voice of a young lady. Wonderful story! Highly recommend for grade 4 and above.

I am so grateful to have received an ARC of Chirp by Kate Messner from NetGalley. Kate Messner is one of the gurus of teaching ELA that I respect, follow, and incorporate her ideas into my lessons. Her summer writing camp for teachers encourages us as educators to explore our own writing and try new techniques.

Chirp is an amazing and touching story of Mia, who is struggling with secrets and hurt. Mia spends the summer in Vermont at her Gram’s cricket farm. She hopes to rest and snack her summer away, but soon changes directions as she joins Warrior Camp and Launch Camp. Launch Camp is similar to Shark Tank and Warrior Camp is a gymnastics camp. Mia loved gymnastics, until she suffered an injury to her arm, but also her mindset. At Warrior Camp, Mia makes friends and becomes detective when Gram’s cricket farm is suffering from surprising controversial events happening.

Launch Camp is an amazing opportunity for the girls to support the success of Gram’s cricket farm, as Gram is not ready to sell her dream and retire. The girls work together to create a sales pitch that will better serve the cricket farm and keep Gram doing what she loves. Mia takes on leadership roles and the team works together seamlessly, until...

Throughout the novel, the reader learns more about crickets and reasons we should try them as a protein source. I found it interesting that female crickets are silent and the males actually make the sounds we hear. Although, throughout the read, I wanted to tell the females to speak up just as Mia does.

Chirp should be included in every middle school classroom, as young people find their voice, make a difference, and overcome challenges with confidence once their voice is heard. I will definitely add Chirp to my 7th grade classroom. Chirp brings young people together standing up for one another, guiding as they find their voice, and overcoming obstacles to be the best self they can be!