Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

Thank you #Netgalley for a chance to read Bea is for Blended. Perfect for my fifth graders--I got s copy for my classroom that is already loved!

It has been a long time since I have read a novel that was written as perfectly as "Bea is for Blended." When I finished the last page I sat, hugged it to my chest, and basked in the heartwarming togetherness at the center of this novel. My heart ached in the best possible way and I was so full of love for these characters, this family, this *team.* Lindsey Stoddard does an incredible job creating a world and a cast of characters that the reader will come to love. We have two families learning how to become one, we have a tenacious group of girls who are determined to be seen as equal to their male counterparts, and we have an inspiring set of teachers, parents, guardians, and found family who support them along the way.

Bea has always been on a team of two, the Embers Girls, with her mom. From the very beginning, it has been the two of them against the world, supported only by Grandma Bea and Aunt Tam. Bea can't quite decide how she feels about this team of two expanding to a team of seven as she and her mom move in with her new stepdad, Wendell, and his three boys as they prepare for the birth of her new half-sibling. Their new house is much bigger, much noisier, and much more crowded than the condo she's always shared with her mom, and she's much less excited to have her stepbrother Bryce on the other side of her bedroom wall than she was to share it with Aunt Tam.

The adjustment to her new blended family is complicated by a sexist dynamic in her middle school. Bea and her friends find enough girls to *finally* have a girl's soccer team instead of riding the bench and watching as the boys get all the playing time on their "coed' team. However, they face mocking from their male classmates, derision from their principal, who also serves as their coach, and adversity at every corner as they struggle to prove they belong on the field just as much as the boy's team.

Lindsey Stoddard does an amazing job of drawing you right in as a reader. You feel every injustice right alongside Bea, and you rejoice in her triumphs. Bea, her family, and her friends are easy to root for, and you might just find yourself as their new number one fan after reading this novel. This is truly a must-read for anyone who has ever been told they can't accomplish their dreams, anyone with a middle-grade student, or anyone who loves a good, captivating story. "Bea is for Blended" is the best of the year, in my book.

So many kids will relate to Bea's story of becoming a blended family and her application of what she learns about teamwork from playing soccer to her everyday life.

Bea Is for Blended is a heartwarming book about blending families, teamwork, unlikely friendships, and community. This middle grade book tackles so many topics almost effortlessly, Bea is for Blended is perfect for fans of family stories, sports books, and books with strong female protagonists.

Great book for middle grade children. Lindsey Stoddard does an amazing job touching on the difficulties of being a middle grade child and being thrown into a new blended family.
Bea is used to it being just her and her mom. So when her mom brings Walter into their life Bea feels that nothing is write anymore. Things are changing at home and at school. She goes through so many real issues that kids will relate to in this story. Great read for any child learning to deal with a changing family dynamic.

Lovers of Brave Like That will find Stoddard’s Bea is for Blended just as satisfying. So many great realistic MG life situations, i.e. blended families, new and changing friendships, discrimination, sports, moving, are threaded together using a new marriage and a newly forming girls’ soccer team. Characters in this wonderful MG novel are distinct and contrast and complement each other beautifully: Bea w/ her strong feelings either for or against people and things in her life, bold and beautiful A who may be good enough to unseat Bea from her throne as MVG in the town’s soccer arena, Principal Meesley and his bigoted and short-sighted view of anything connected to female-kind, Maximilian the OCD and anxious mathematical whiz, and wonderful Nana and her focus on what is good in all of our lives. No profanity, sexual content, and violence is mild and necessary to the bullying incidents in the book. Representation: Most characters appear Caucasian but with names and some physical descriptions, could be another race; same sex parents included, key character is deaf, OCD/anxiety disorder. Thanks for the dARC, NetGalley and Edelweiss.

Libraries serving grades 4-8 would do well to make this a “first choice” selection for their collections.

I thoroughly enjoyed Bea is for Blended and there was so much that I was inspired to think about as an educator - especially teaching reading & writing. Bea builds a girls soccer team and they stand up to a coach who treats the boys much better than the girls - such an empowering book with themes of believing in yourself, teamwork, and doing the right thing (even standing up to grown ups who don't believe in you!)

I have already told 3 people they need to read this book. I would use this as a read aloud in a fourth or fifth grade class. My only issue was the repetitive ways that certain phrases, like bullsharky and bite the back of my tongue were used. It didn’t seem to be edited very well. Other than that, I thought it was a good book with a great message.

This is one of the best books I have read for middle-graders about blended families. Lindsey Stoddard has written a heartfelt, realistic, relatable book that should be in all libraries for kids. Bea is starting 6th grade, but that's not all that's new: after being a team with her mom all of their lives, her mom has married Wendell. They have moved into a new house with Wendell's three sons, two dogs, and one cat - and there is another new sibling on the way. As Bea struggles to make space for herself in her new, louder family, she find herself in a battle at school as well - this time, for a girls' soccer team. Fortunately, she has an amazing Grandma Bea who brings out the best in Bea, and helps her to focus on what she is grateful for. Though she is able to find enough members for a team, the school principal (also the boys' soccer coach) is reluctant and soon shows his favoritism toward the boys' team. When he refuses to listen to Bea and the other girls, they take matters into their own hands. I love that Bea is learning (along with readers) about conflict resolution, and that she is so loyal and supportive of her best friend Maximilian. I especially love that their teachers model and expect respectful behavior that doesn't compromise the values of anyone else. Sports fans will love this book, but so will non-sports fans.
Perfect for ages 10+.
Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC of this book. Opinions are my own.

So much is changing in Bea's life. Her mom is getting married to a man with three boys, and they'll be moving in together to become a blended family. At school, a new student is threatening to take over Bea's top spot on the soccer team. This year, Bea is determined to get a girls' soccer team together. Her new rival becomes her partner and they work to fight against the coach's sexism.

I think this is a great book for kids of all genders to see how others experience things like sexism.

This is another great middle grades book by Stoddard about a strong, active, intelligent young girl. It is as honest and real as the rest of Stoddard’s work. Bea is faced with moving from life with her single mother to a house filled with new brothers and pets when her mom gets married. Although family plays an important role in this story, its heart is rooted in Bea’s determination to empower her classmates to establish a girls’ soccer team at their school. One of her stepbrothers, Bryce, represents all that she is up against in a system that would rather she quietly step aside, but it turns out Bea just might be unstoppable!

So many readers will identify with Bea's situation as her mom marries and Bea is indeed "blended". She's also a soccer player whose team experiences unfair treatment by the coach (and principal!) who favors the boys' team. This will be an excellent choice for student book clubs because as Bea's story unfolds, the discussion readers can have would be meaningful.

In the beginning, I didn't like the book very much, as I thought Bea was a bit petty. As the book went on though, I was glad that I gave it a chance. Bea's character arc is really great and I love the themes and messages of this book. I totally recommend it to kids ages 9-12.

"What are your three?" 1. Receiving great book mail. 2. Spring that tumbles into summer. 3. My sweet pup, Marty.

Bea is for Blended is one of the sweetest middle grade stories that I've ever read. It's always been just Bea and her mom...well, until her mom marries Wendell and Bea suddenly finds herself surrounded by Valentines: Wendell, Cameron, Tucker, Bryce, Dodger, Roscoe, and Fred. There's also a new baby on the way. Bea struggles with all of these family changes while also fielding a new neighbor who also loves soccer, moving away from her best friend, and trying to convince the principal, who is also the soccer coach, that the girls deserve to have their own team.

Stoddard does a fantastic job of providing Bea with an authentic voice. There are many heartwarming moments throughout the book, as well as a few times that, just like Bea, I could feel "a fire burning hot in my belly" over the terrible treatment of the girls' soccer team. I also love that Stoddard uses long-hyphenated-phrases and has her characters read great books into her novels.

One of my favorite parts of Bea is for Blended is when Bea reads an incredibly sad part in The Bridge to Terabithia. Stoddard writes a "sliding glass door" moment that is just beautiful. "I hold the book and I cry. And I can't stop. I cry for Leslie and for Jess and I feel a big, aching sadness. A huge, painful injury. A deep, deep loss. A loss I've never felt before and could never imagine until now." I will be reading this passage to all of my students because these few sentences show the absolutely power and magic of books when a reader is invited into the story and becomes a part of it.

This is definitely a five start read! It's out now, so be sure to pick it up...and that's no "bullsharkey!" Thank you to NetGalley and HarpersCollins for an advance readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

Blending families is not easy but it is not impossible. Bea and her family show that it can work out with an acknowledged learning curve. I'm proud of the girls for standing up to their principal and having a winning soccer team.

5 stars = Outstanding!

This was a delight! It took me a bit to get a feel for Bea, but I feel like *Bea* was trying to get a feel for Bea at the beginning, too. I loved getting to "listen" to her process her feelings about all the blending going on in her life, the things she was learning through her reading, how her feelings changed about her step-brother. It was brilliant. The girl-power pieces with the soccer story were excellent. And I adored the adults in this book (well, most of them) - the ways they gave the kids space to work out some of the issues on their own and to advocate for themselves. At the same time, though, it was crystal clear that the kids had a lot of support that would back them up in force if needed. Do NOT miss this one - the characters, the story, the heart of this is fantastic! ( A few excellent uses of the term "badass.")

Thank you Netgalley and HarperCollins for access to this arc.

This book caught my eye because the cover and the blurb reminded me of another author I’ve enjoyed Barbara O’Connor. There is so much here to love about Bea and (yes) her blended family that it’s hard to know where to start talking about it.

Can Bea get used to her new family? Will she be able to drum up enough interest among the girls to field a team? And how will her new focus on reading and the lessons taught by her teachers intersect to help her against bullies and a principal who does nothing about it?

The book is a little slow to start as there are a lot of characters, characteristics, and situations to set up. Once it got going, I settled in and read most of it in one day. Initially Bea is a bit sulky about her new life but she’s dealing with a lot of changes so it didn’t bother me. I loved her friendship with her best friend who has OCD which Bea has learned how to help him cope with in public. Bea is fearless in standing up to the three boys who bully Maximillian and it’s a joy to watch her new teachers expertly deescalating and redirecting some of this in their classroom.

Being from a long line of women who “have got this,” it’s no surprise that Bea won’t back down in her efforts to get a girl’s soccer team going. The final player to join is the new student, a deaf girl, who begins to teach the others signs they start to use on the field. I won’t reveal the season the girls have but I enjoyed how everything came together in the end – lessons are learned, friendships are made, teamwork is emphasised, and perhaps change will occur because of “take no prisoners” Bea.

All that being said, I do think the book has a fair degree of wishful thinking going on. There are a lot of potential conflicts that are included and examined but in most cases, resolved positively. It’s lovely and feel-good but perhaps not truly indicative of the real world. There are also some side characters who fade to the background a lot but then this is a book mainly about how Bea views them. Another character’s changes are shown very subtly and for the issues being presented, I’d have like a bit more emphasis on showing these. Still, I finished the book feeling good and in this era of pandemic and conflict, that’s a great thing to get from a story. B

Bea Is for Blended is a heartwarming book about blending families, team work, unlikely friendships, and community. This middle grade book tackles so many topics almost effortlessly. Set in a small town with a soccer-loving, feisty protagonist, this one is perfect for fans of family stories, sports books, and books with strong female protagonists. You might shed a tear or at least give this one a bear hug when you're done.

While rather slow to start and somewhat hampered by a difficult-to-like main character, the story picks up pace and interest following the start of the school year and the introduction of the truly loathsome middle school principal. The novel features a number of strong, supportive female adults who help facilitate an inclusive culture that allows Bea and her classmates to genuinely grow as young people. The MC’s best friend is an apparently autistic young man whose value and skill sets are regularly positively affirmed throughout the novel (despite bullying from two boys, which is also ultimately addressed).