So many feels with this book. I enjoyed the character development. There was fun and serious. Great book for mature middle graders or younger ya readers. Some serious content as well as light romance. Some swearing. I can’t say enough, I love the characters in this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the DRC.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was an amazing book. I really enjoyed the story and the different characters. It was written really well and I also enjoyed the plot a lot.

I absolutely loved this book and if you are a fan of Gary Schmidt’s work you will be too. A wonderful story about loss and acceptance. Hand to readers who enjoy Gary Schmidt, Gordon Korman, and Jennifer Nielsen.

This is a must read for middle grade and beyond. A beautiful story about grief, friendship, purpose, and beginning again. This is my second Gary D. Schmidt book and he has now become an author that I will read anything he publishes. His writing is beautiful and surprising and moving.

This newest Gary Schmidt book is a companion to Wednesday Wars and Okay For Now, but can be read as a stand alone book...with a box of tissue handy. Meryl Lee is struggling to recover from the loss of her closest friend and feels that “The Blank” looms over her and will never lift. Her parents decide that going to a prestigious, all girls preparatory school will give her the opportunity to start fresh, but the well-to-do young ladies of St. Elene’s are not very welcoming to a newbie from Hicksville. Matt is a homeless runaway who is trying to stay a few steps ahead of a violent past that manages to find him and ruin every bit of good that he finds. These two main characters are surrounded by a supporting cast that includes cranky and uptight teachers, a headmistress referred to as the “Great Dignity,” a weathered old fisherman with a soft spot for a certain someone, and a host of students much like those in any 8th grade class. Readers will see some events coming, but others will be a surprise as Meryl Lee seeks some opportunity to make a difference and become an Accomplished St. Elene’s girl and Matt tries to find a way to stop running. Schmidt has created a book that will stick with me for quite some time and I will be finding copies of the other two in this set. Highly, highly recommended for grades 6-9. Note: There are a few kisses between our main characters and the violence around Matt is significant, but is not likely to be considered problematic for those in the target age group.

The Wednesday Wars is one of my all time favorite books. I tried cream puffs for the first time (and now have them for my birthday every year) because of the words in that book. I wanted the same for Just Like That. It was hard to get into this one and really stick to it. I feel like my avid readers will enjoy it, but the casual readers will not stick it out to get the beauty of the book.

The characters in this book were really interesting. I loved the many references to literary works throughout. For my Postcard Field Trip curriculum, I loved how much history and place were weaved into the fabric of the story.

Definitely buying with grant money to include in my school library.

Fans of the Wednesday Wars will remember Meryl Lee. In Just Like That she is the main character and has just moved to boarding school in Maine. In this book Meryl Lee is struggling with the loss of a close friend and her parents divorce. Readers will have their heartbroken, just like Meryl Lee on page one and as they journey through the year the "blank space" will begin to heal.

I loved this book. It was my first by Schidmt and I was blown away by the respect he showed his middle grade/teen readers. This book had depth, heart, and a whole lot of situations to keep the book moving.

The whole time I was reading, I felt transported in a way I haven't since I read The Westing Game or From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. No character was all good, or all bad. Well almost. I fell in love with the headmistress from her first appearance and even Ms. Connely had a few redeeming moments.

Schmidt wrote about grief in such a raw and vulnerable way. He seems to understand adolescent grief in all of its intricacies and simplicities. The setting was magnificent and the time period the story was set in made for a perfect backdrop to Matthew and Meryl Lee's journeys.

If you like reminiscent books set in boarding schools with deep friendships this is the book for you.

Oh, yeah and I think kids will like it as well

Two pages. That's how far I made it into this book before I wanted to cry. Schmidt has this ability to break my heart in the best possible way. This is the third book in a loosely linked trio (absolutely no need to read the other two in order to understand this one). The first, The Wednesday Wars, introduced us to a cast of characters with the central focus on Holling Hoodhood. Okay For Now follows Holling's friend Doug after he moves away. And this volume digs deep into Meryl, Holling's almost girlfriend after her parents send her to boarding school. The inciting incident for Meryl's move happens before the book's opening, "off screen", and finds her overwhelmed with grief, living in a fog. That fog follows her through much of the plot, so the early chapters have a sort of emotional disconnect. As Meryl begins to re-engage with the world, so too do we build more connection with characters and events. We of course meet a variety of new characters, some of whom are lovable and others who are classic school villains: harsh teachers, snobby roommates, that sort of thing. But they don't stay flat villains. Through the course of the novel we see some of the things that influence their behaviors. Meryl sees the complexity in the people around her and begins to see a way forward through her grief. All of this with the tumultuous background of a small conservative village in the 60s, addressing Vietnam and classism in equal measure. The focus of the plot isn't on "fixing" things. Grief and big societal issues are not easily fixed. They simply take steps forward, which has to be enough. This is the most action oriented of Schmidt's plots, with gangsters and literal rooftop fights. This makes it a bit sensational, but not too over the top.

After Meryl Lee’s best friend dies in an accident, she is sent to a private boarding school for a change of scenery. Every girl at St. Elene’s is expected to demonstrate Accomplishment, but Meryl Lee cannot get past The Blank that’s been with her since Hollis’s death.

Matt is a new arrival to town, but he never stays in one place for too long. Once he meets Headmaster Mrs. MacKnockater and Meryl Lee, though, he might just stick around.

I loved so many things about this book.

The story takes place over the 1968 -1969 school year, against the backdrop of the Viet Nam War and the election of Richard Nixon, which sets the stage for Meryl Lee’s nascent activism. Despite her grief, Meryl Lee starts to notice injustices closer to home, and begins to find her voice. Although there are teachers at the school who are resistant to change, there is no shortage of allies for Meryl Lee.

There are lots of literary references. Themes from Meryl Lee’s school assignments on Mary, Queen of Scots and The Wizard of Oz are interwoven throughout the book as Meryl Lee struggles to find her Accomplishment. Teachers and students rotate through the library to read The Grapes of Wrath for “the lewd parts,” which no one can seem to find. A teacher starts a Literary Society that studies the writings of Shakespeare.

Schmidt creates situations that bring unlikely pairs together, and over time, a tight band of friends forms. The girls express their camaraderie with the phrase “sticks up” (inspired by the school field hockey team), which is their shorthand for “man up,” “good luck,” “good job.”

There is usually a despicable character in Schmidt’s books, and Just Like That is no exception. While Meryl Lee is fighting ideas at St. Elene’s, Matt is fighting a battle with his past demons. Even while Matt is settling in, Schmidt never lets the reader forget that trouble is on the way.

Without giving away the ending, this was a humorous, moving, satisfying read.

Thank you Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Group, Clarion Books, and Netgalley for an Advanced Readers Arc of this book.

8th grader Mary Lee is sent to boarding school to help her cope with the death of her best friend. She meets Matt, who is also dealing with grief while trying to escape from a gang. The friendship between the two helps them on the road to healing.

Gary D. Schmidt is always good for an ugly cry, and this book was no exception.

I think my favorite part of these books, is that reading them as an adult I appreciate the adult characters so much. They're kind, generous, wise, and sometimes a little salty and I want to be those adults for the kids in my life.

I don't remember being that into kissing as an 8th grader though. 🤣

*recommend that you read The Wednesday Wars first.

Welp, it's 3 a.m., and here I sit, wiping away tears as I wonder how in the hell I will ever be able to do this review any justice. Probably won't, but I'll try my best. Dissection was a somewhat larger theme of this book, so I'll continue in that same vein and say that Gary D. Schmidt is bloody brilliant at opening up your heart and poking around inside. He's not afraid to expose the sad and scary bits, but he also doesn't hold back on the heartwarming and loving moments. His characters become cherished friends that you care about and cheer for as they navigate loss, friendship, coming of age, and the ever-changing tide of life. The one thing I probably won't forgive, ever, is the abrupt killing of an amazing character. G. Schmidt, you didn't need to break my heart by page 2. I forgive you because you did put it back together by the end, even if the pieces weren't quite the same fit. Schmidt doesn't necessarily revel in the fast-paced drama, so I wouldn't go into this expecting lots of action. BUT, if you are looking for deeply moving character development, that feeling when you first watched Dead Poet's Society or read Anne of Green Gables, this book needs to go to the top of your list. Sticks down, readers. Things can change just like that.

Just Like That by Gary D. Schmidt, 2021
Recommended for grades 6-8; realistic fiction, historical fiction

It’s 1968 and Meryl Lee Kowalski is about to start eighth grade when her best friend Holling Hoodhood dies in a car accident. Meryl Lee is overwhelmed by the Blank, her term for the feeling of emptiness and depression caused by that kind of loss. Meryl Lee knows she can’t go back to Camillo Junior High or any of the familiar places she’s used to going with Holling, so her parents decide to send her to St. Elene’s Preparatory Academy for Girls, a prestigious boarding school in Maine where she can get a “new start” and focus on facing Obstacles and finding Resolution and becoming Accomplished. But it’s a difficult transition. Most of the other girls at St. Elene’s are very rich and have known each other for a long time.

Meanwhile, Matt Coffin has recently arrived in Maine after being on the run for a long time. He has a dark and disturbing past involving homelessness, theft, the violent death of a friend named Georgie, and a large amount of money that he stole from a sinister figure named Leonidas Shug. He has encountered quite a few generous people who have taken him in for a short period of time before he ran away to protect them from the repercussions of his own past. But when he meets Dr. Nora MacKnockater, headmistress of St. Elene’s, and Willis Hurd, captain of the lobster boat Affliction, he gradually decides to stay put for a while.

The rest of this book is a year-long series of anecdotes, mostly from Meryl Lee’s point of view but with occasional chapters about Matt. Meryl Lee struggles to fit in at her new school but gradually makes friends, even with the girls who were originally her worst enemies. She also befriends a couple members of the kitchen staff, despite the harsh disapproval of certain faculty members, and makes waves with her willingness to voice her opinions, mostly about literature at first. Although she fails to achieve Accomplishment at any of the extracurriculars or hobbies she tries, she does well academically and she earns the esteem of the headmistress. Over time, she finally even starts to recover from the Blank. But she also learns that her parents sent her away for another reason, too. They are splitting up and they didn’t want Meryl Lee to witness the breakup of the family firsthand.

Meanwhile, Meryl Lee and Matt meet at Dr. MacKnockater’s house at Thanksgiving and quickly become friends with more than a hint of romantic interest. Without even knowing Matt’s backstory, Meryl Lee helps him escape from trouble a couple of times and continually gives him the motivation to make a home for himself in one place. The book concludes with a dramatic climax to Matt’s daring escape from his troubled past and a feel-good revelation that Meryl Lee’s Accomplishments lie in forming friendships, overcoming Obstacles, and selflessness. Or, as Dr. MacKnockater tells her, she is the Tin Woodsman from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. She lost her heart but has learned that the way to find it again is to give it away.

This book has a highly stylized writing style characterized by brief scenes and an occasional disregard of correct grammar, as well as a repetitive use of certain words and phrases, often with capitalization for emphasis. Obstacles, Resolution, and Accomplishment are always capitalized with the implication that Meryl Lee thinks that the overly-dignified attitude at St. Elene’s is ridiculous even though she’s in agreement with many of the principles and objectives behind it. There’s also a distinctive, stylized aspect to the point of view. Although it’s third-person and sometimes switches abruptly from the perspective of one character to that of another, it retains the tone of an inner monologue, full of irreverent asides, judgemental remarks about other characters, and allusions to private conversations that happened earlier in the story.

Before I finish this blog post, I feel like it’s worth saying a little bit about the setting. I felt that the backdrop of Maine in the late 60s was thoroughly described and atmospheric, but that what made it particularly interesting was the juxtaposition of different socioeconomic backgrounds. Meryl Lee herself apparently comes from an upper-middle class family, but she’s fairly down-to-Earth and accustomed to dressing casually and using informal language. At St. Elene’s, she finds herself surrounded by people who are much richer and who have connections to brag about and reputations to uphold. Meanwhile, Meryl Lee’s friends amongst the kitchen staff are much more subject to the judgmental opinions of their “superiors” and the financial hardships that would come if they were to lose their jobs. Unlike most of the students, they also have family members and friends who are fighting in Vietnam, which ends up greatly impacting Meryl Lee. Finally, Matt has been used to yet another lifestyle characterized by danger, poverty, and uncertainty. His backstory could just as easily have come from a book set in a much earlier time period. This stark contrast adds dimension and food for thought to the setting.

This book will appeal to a lot of readers for its boarding-school setting as well as its likable protagonist and unique narrative voice. While I personally didn’t think that the plot was particularly distinctive, the numerous memorable characters and the atmospheric setting do a lot to make up for that. I would recommend this book mainly for middle-school-aged readers, which puts it on the line between middle grade and YA.

Imagine someone coming up to you and saying, “Hey, you know that book you love? Someone wrote a sequel! Remember the main character? Yeah, so the story starts with him dead now, and it’s all about how the secondary character is dealing with the resulting grief. It’s amazing. You should read it.”

So… I’ll try not to start my post in quite that upbeat manner. I’m not sure exactly what Gary D. Schmidt was thinking, but… he killed off Holling Hoodhood, friends. If you loved The Wednesday Wars as much as I did, then you may need a moment or two to process this. Grab some chocolate. Shout dramatically about, “Who do authors think they are anyway, playing God like that?!” Slowly sip of cup of tea. I’m sorry. I know Holling may just have been a fictional character, but the grief is real.

Feeling a little better? Okay.

Yeah, so… this book is amazing! You should read it!

Despite being cruel and unusual and making me rethink the power placed in my hands as a writer, Schmidt’s decision to begin Just Like That with the death of a beloved character (technically, he places it slightly in the past as the book begins) achieved the result of pulling you instantly into the emotions of the new main character, Meryl Lee Kowalski. Even if you’ve never read The Wednesday Wars, you’d feel for Meryl Lee. But if you share the tiniest bit of her love for Holling Hoodhood, you’ll cry a little yourself and feel her shock and understand what she means when she speaks of a great, big Blank of grief following her around all the time, threatening to overcome her.

And then, in case you thought Mr. Schmidt had tricked you into feeling such strong emotion based solely upon the fact that you know Holling and Meryl Lee, he introduces another character: Matt Coffin, who stands by the shore of Maine skipping stones and somehow–just like that–ingratiates himself into your affections and you know you will not stop reading his story or Meryl Lee’s either unless absolutely compelled to do so by the events of your real life. And you really hope they don’t compel you too much.

Now let’s see if I can give you a little plot. Meryl Lee, horrified by the prospect of returning to the school which she and Holling attended together, is sent to St. Elene’s, a prestigious all-girls’ boarding school in New England, where she sticks out like a sore country bumpkin thumb in a world of rich, sophisticated students. Matt Coffin, skipper of stones, is running away from something and doesn’t want to talk about it, not even to the kindly old woman who find him on the shore and skips some stones along with him before inviting him to her table, or the curmudgeonly lobster boat captain who takes him on as an apprentice of sorts.

Meryl Lee, perhaps spurred on by the injustice of her friend’s death, spots injustices all around her at St. Elene’s and makes it her mission to right what she can, even as she’s belittled and ridiculed by her classmates and a particularly nasty teacher. Matt, meanwhile, just wants to feel safe–but his past inevitably catches up with him and puts everyone he’s growing to love in danger.

I don’t want to spoil the story with any further plot, although I will say that Just Like That has more easily articulated plot than many a Gary D. Schmidt novel–he’s so wonderfully good at character growth that you’d follow his characters around if they did pretty much nothing. This one, however, is full of mission and danger and conflict, and it is incredibly, don’t-read-it-when-you-need-to-fall-asleep, tense.

But. It’s still the characters that keep you reading. It’s the human nature of it all. It’s the deep-down trust in the goodness of humanity that Schmidt exudes that makes you turn page after page in wonder.

In all fairness, I’ll say that one plot point fell a little short, fitting too handily and leaving me shrugging at such a coincidence. But honestly–I couldn’t care less. That humanity sold me.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Soon-to-be 8th grader Meryl Lee Kowalski is devastated by the death of her first love. Her parents send her from her home in New York to coastal Maine where she will attend St. Elene's Preparatory Academy for Girls in order to get a fresh start. However, the other girls at St. Elene's are less than welcoming. At the same time, Matt Coffin is experiencing loss and turmoil of his own. He's on the run from a man who wants him dead. When Meryl Lee and Matt's paths cross, their lives both start looking up. This is a sweet, charming book that reminds readers of how quickly life can change in both bad ways and good - just like that. I am a big fan of The Wednesday Wars by the same author and definitely need to read everything else he has written. His writing style is both humorous and touching. This book was a joy to read.

Gary Scmidt expands the universe of his Wednesday Wars in this new addition, set immediately after the conclusion of his previous work. After the death of Meryl Lee's close friend, though, she just doesn’t feel connected to her community anymore. There's just too much “Blank.” So her parents decide to start her at a new school in Maine, where maybe she can escape the grief that’s been following her since.

Simultaneously, we hear the story of Matt Coffin, an orphan boy who is always on the move. Full of a suspense that wonderfully complements the quiet intensity of Meryl Lee’s, Matt's story is masterfully interwoven with the school story.

I couldn't put Just Like That down. The pacing is spot on, the stories are engaging and distinct, but the whole thing somehow feels extremely cohesive. And even though I hadn’t read Wednesday Wars, I felt very grounded in the world and story throughout; it worked well as a stand-alone novel.

This is a character-driven historical fiction story told from two points of view. The action and suspense build slowly, but the pay off is worth it. All of the characters, even the supporting ones who don't show up often, are fleshed out, and the author's descriptions of Maine throughout the year are so detailed that the state feels like a character unto itself. A beautiful story that will appeal to adults, but may not entice many middle school readers.