5 stars for middle grade readers

This book tackles so many big issues in an appropriate and approachable manner for the middle grade audience.

When Andi is sent off to music camp the summer after losing her mom she is angry. She doesn't like the uniform, she doesn't feel like she belongs and can she fit in in a space where very few are like her?

Zora is a camp queen. As a veteran to the camp she has her group of friends, she knows the ropes and is driven to be the greatest and keep her top chair. But she's realizing this may be more her parents dreams than her own. Having headed to camp after a blow up with her best friend the summer is not starting off as she would like.

While the bunkmates are certainly different and know so little about one another there is something that draws them to one another. Can they connect and help each other with the things they've been fighting and hiding?

Thank you to Netgalley and the published for giving me an advanced copy of this book to read and review.

Wow. This was emotional! It felt very real. Super cute crush/romance story mixed with some real issues of grief, self-harm, mental health, etc. Thoroughly enjoyed this one.

3.5 rounded up to 4

I really enjoyed this, primarily the first half. I did enjoy the second half, but I wish it was only Andi's POV or if the dual POV's appeared sooner. Overall, this is a great story for young readers and it should be read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me a copy of this book for my honest review.

Lockington has given us the gift of an honest look at early teenager friendships and first love. Within the framework of music camp, Andi finds herself on the outside looking in. She is attracted to Zora, another camper who is also struggling with self-doubt and self-worth. Navigating cliques and her own identity, Andi is learning to embrace her authentic self while allowing others to love her. With a sensitive touch regarding racism, microaggressions, self-harm and grief, Lockington's novel is a beautiful tribute to a difficult time of life.

Another beautiful middle grade book from Lockington about love, loss and moving on. It also has honest conversations about race. A must-read.

Writing a second book is hard. Revising a second book is hard. And truly, as both a reader and an author, IN THE KEY OF US came to me at the perfect time. It made me feel seen and inspired and loved - Mariama is honestly a gift to us all. I loved Andi. I loved Zora. And I loved Andi and Zora ✨together✨. Easily one of my favorite books of the year.

In the Key of Us delicately handles some very heavy topics such as the loss of a parent, self-harm, racism, LGBTQ.

In the Key of Us by Mariama J. Lockington | 4 stars

Zora and Andi are two girls going to Harmony Music Camp for a month in the summer. Although, they don't know each other at the start of camp, their lives intertwine in beautiful ways as they connect with each other and learn a lot about who they are and who they want to be in the future. Zora struggles with perfectionism, having a severe desire to perform to perfection. This is exacerbated by the expectations her mother puts on her to be the best, and oftentimes leaves Zora to cope in ways that are unhealthy and harmful to her. Andi is dealing with grief after the loss of her mother and the upcoming birth of her cousin-sister. She struggles with feeling like she doesn't have a space to belong, feeling like a fifth wheel living with her aunt and uncle and being a newcomer at Harmony Music Camp. As the weeks pass, Zora and Andi find a kinship with each other that is unique and honest and real. The girls encourage each other to be free and give each other a space to belong. The love that blossoms between them was sweet; the representation that comes from seeing two Black girls accepting who they are and falling in love is powerful and much needed.

In The Key of Us was a delightful, heartfelt middle-grade novel that genuinely made me feel all the feelings. If a middle-grade novel can make me feel for its characters as an adult, I call that a success--it basically guarantees that its targeted audience will definitely enjoy it and feel moved by the characters and story as well.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for an early copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan for the advance Kindle copy of this book. I’m a tad late, as it came out this past Tuesday. All opinions are my own.
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 for this beautiful and sad dual-perspective story. Black teens Andi and Zora meet an a summer orchestra camp. Andi is mourning the death of her mother and upheaval of her life as she has moved in with her aunt and uncle, who are polar opposites of her mom. Zora is cracking under the pressure of being the perfect daughter, student, and friend. They find each other and learn that they may be more than friends, and navigate how to best be there when life gets to be too hard. Trigger warning: self harm. Beautifully done and recommended for grades 6-8.

I adored this book and the voices of Zora and Andi. I loved it was dual perspective so we got to see how these two Black Girls were feeling throughout their experiences, separate & together. The way that Mariama approached grief, parental expectations, microagressions, anxiety, self-harming (mild) and budding first romance was beautifully done. I think anyone that picks up this book will feel warm and joyous when they reach the final page, I definitely let out a happy sigh when I finished.

In the Key of Us is a dual-perspective summer camp book perfect for this summer. It’s a middle grade novel about girls struggling with identity, and it’s told with such sincere voice and heart that you can’t help but love it. If you were in a middle-school band, then you’ll identify with a lot of this — I definitely flashed back to how incredibly stressful chair auditions were in middle school, which I haven’t thought about until right now. (I consistently scored dead last because I never practiced at home, and I still don’t! But I do love playing cello when I get around to it.) It’s a sweet book, and it’s also hopeful for the future; I remember being twelve and it felt like I was on the brink of a lot of different things, and this book captures that feeling perfectly. Four and a half stars, rounded up for NetGalley.

Thank you to NetGalley for a free eARC copy of this book, in exchange for my honest review.

In the Key of Us is an absolute gem of a read. Lockington tackles many topics in an age-appropriate way for her intended audience. Some of the topics discussed are: racism, loss of a family member, self-harm, perfectionism, camp crushes (with a focus on navigating being a queer kid), and growing up, among other topics.

We follow Andi and Zora navigate through 4 weeks of an elite music camp. The story is extremely well written in a clever way-- weeks 1 and 3 are from Andi's perspective, while weeks 2 and 4 are narrated by Zora. Each girl looks a certain way on the outside to the kids at camp, and we get to explore what they are both really struggling with behind the facade.

I will definitely be recommending this book to others and look forward to finding other books from Lockington.

Thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

I read Mariama J. Lockington first book, For Black Girls Like Me, in preparation for hearing her speak at the transracial adoption camp that my family attends yearly. I liked it but didn't love it. I enjoyed In the Key of Us so much more! It still presents issues of race and racism, but it feels more refined and realistic. In this story, Andi and Zora are minorities at their summer music camp. Andi is struggling with the death of her mother and the impending birth of a new family member while Zora is battling perfectionism and self-harm. Both girls are also realizing they're romantically attracted to one another as well. There is a lot going on in this book, but Lockington handles it all with age-appropriateness. Friendship and love abound in this middle-grade book.

In the Key of Us was incredibly well-written! Set at an elite music camp, the story alternates between our two leads. I loved the setting and the dual perspectives of both girls. My heart broke for both Andi and Zora on different occasions, as they struggled with their relationships with the adults in their lives.

Trigger warning: self harm

I loved this poignant dual-POV book of two girls who attend a summer music camp. Andi has been struggling with her trumpet playing ever since her mom died. Zora is trying to please her parents via her flute playing, but dancing is the love of her heart. Lockington writes beautifully and creates characters who are realistic and lovable. I felt completely immersed in each POV and loved switching back and forth between the perspectives. I also LOVED the short chapters in verse from yet another perspective (I won't say which perspective that is, but it was one of my very favorite parts of the book). I was a summer camp kid/teen myself and I loved the way that "camp time" is captured so perfectly in this story... it's hard to explain to people who've never been to camp, but there's got to be some formula where one day at camp equals one month in the outside world. I really appreciated the exploration of the themes of belonging and finding your voice. I also love the way that Andi and Zora find each other and the feelings they develop for each other. A tender, beautifully written summer story.

What a beautiful book on so many levels. Andi is struggling with the death of her mother. She's living with her aunt and uncle, feeling like a 5th wheel, trying to grapple with her actions prior to her mother's death, and coping with the changes in her life and in her world. Her aunt sends her to Music Camp over the summer, and Andi reluctantly goes, not expecting to connect or fit in. Over the course of the month she learns the meaning and value of friendship and family connections.

Zora has gone to Music Camp for many summers, and always looks forward to it. This year she begins the summer with a fight with her best friend, and a fear of letting down her parents. She also has a secret bubbling to the surface of her world, and she struggles with all she holds dear.

A coming of age story of two twelve year old girls, their budding awareness of friendship, life, and acceptance of the changing nature we all go through. It's beautifully written and the characters are rich in their exploration of the summer and growing up. They are more knowledgeable of the world and it's challenges than I remember being at twelve, but the world is a vastly changing space, and this book can create a safe space for self-exploration, and can encourage young girls to look within and accept themselves as they are, regardless of skin color and gender roles.

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

The world is changing and we must change with it. This book explores grief, friendship, romance between two females and coming into one's own.

Children experience all of the nuances mentioned beforehand as well as other topics within the book. It is a good read for late middle schoolers and above. Representation Matters and we must be open to being open and accepting to all of our students.

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Andi doesn't really want to go to summer music camp. She used to love to play the trumpet, but that was before her mother died in a car accident and she had to go live with her uptight aunt and white uncle who never really approved of her mother's artistic lifestyle. To make matters worse, she is going to become a cousin, and feels that her aunt and uncle just want to get her out of the way for the summer. The camp seems uptight as well, and Andi, who prefers to dress in all black, is not keen on the uniform, especially the knee socks. Zora, too, has her reservations about camp. Her parents are also strict, and her mother wants her to excel at playing the flute, especially after Zora had an unfortunate experience with dance. Her mother tells her that dance is not kind to girls "like you", meaning Black and curvy. Andi and Zora are bunk mates, and Zora is supposed to teach Andi the ropes, since Zora has been attending the camp for years, but the two have an unfortunate encounter that strains their relationship. Andi instead makes friends with Christopher, who has a very boisterous personality, loves arts and crafts, and tells Andi in confidence that he young adult sister is raising him after his parents were deported back to the Philippines. Andi struggles with the strictures of the elite camp, and Zora finds that she really does prefer dance after taking a master class with a black dance instructor who has a troupe in Detroit, not too terribly far from Zora's home in Ann Arbor. Both girls know that they are not interestedin boys the way other girls are, and find that they are attracted to each other, but are still a bit unsure how to proceed with a "more than friends" relationship. While Zora's friend Kendall (with whom she exchanges the occasional letter) is cool with her queer identification, as are the girls at camp, she and Andi still have a series of misunderstandings before they are able to admit their feelings. When parents' weekend arrives, both have problems with their families, but are able to work them out and find a way forward where they can embrace their new interests with the support of their families.
Strengths: A change that has arisen in the last two years is that when students ask for romance books, I have to be careful to give them options that move beyond the traditional boy-girl crushes. This is a great book for readers who want a girl-girl romance. There is a lot of information about the musical process of the camp, and chair auditions are brutal when one is in middle school; it was good to see that portrayed. Both girls struggle with the expectations at home, which are very narrow and don't take their opinions into account as much as they should, which many readers will understand. The budding romance between Andi and Zora is the real draw for young readers here. Andi's grief and guilt over her mother's death are realistically portrayed, and it was good to see that she was in therapy and had some coping mechanisms. The cover is very appealing.
Weaknesses: While I understand why we see the plot unfold from the dual perspectives, I was so engrossed in Andi's story that it was a bit jarring when a new chapter started from Zora's perspective. There were also a lot of flashbacks that sometimes took me out of the present story as well. It was important to know the backstory for both Andi and Zora, but I almost wish we had seen more of their separate lives before they got to camp so that the present day narrative didn't need to be interrupted. Summer camp stories and books about band are difficult to place in my library. I loved Grosso's I am Drums, but it rarely leaves the shelves.
What I really think: This would be good for readers who enjoyed Rhuday-Perkovich's It Doesn't Take a Genius and Chase's Turning Point, and was very similar to Bigelow's Drum Roll, Please.

Having been to an elite and very Christian music camp in the early 1980s, I would venture to say that the problems with elite music camps don't only affect Black attendees. I had a miserable experience, and Andi was not alone with struggling with the expectations and narrow mind set. On a personal note, I'm never a fan of negative portrayals of Karens, and Kendall's father is engaged to a yoga teacher who shares my appellation and is described as "white and basic just like her name" (quote from the uncorrected E ARC). I understand why this happens, and know I shouldn't feel hurt, but it's still not a great thing to see negative stereotypes of any kind in middle grade literature.

I really enjoyed this one! I thought the setting of band camp was fun and I really appreciated that the author represented the kids having conflicting interests with what they were at camp to focus on. I struggled as a kid to not focus on one sole activity (for me, soccer) and I always look back wishing I had opened up my options more. So personally, I think it's a cool message to tell kids that it's okay to change their interests and want to pursue new activities.

I thought the relationship elements were really cute. Everyone who has been to a youth summer camp knows that there's always so much chatter about who is attractive and who you like and crushes abound. I love being able to see these elements but with the LGBTQ+ representation. That's something I never got to read about or experience as a kid.

There are also a lot of darker, more complex themes in this: grief, death, self harm, bullying, racism, microaggressions, etc. I don't think some of these things are too much for middle grade age to handle, lord knows I would've felt much less alone at 12 reading some of this stuff in books. I do think it's a good idea to give kids space and have conversations with them about it to work through some of the topics though.

Overall, I definitely recommend this book!