My son loved this book! Truly an inspiring book, especially when you know the author also has the same challenges as the character! He did a phenomenal job making his challenges into wins. Definitely recommend for kids (and adults) who have unique challenges and needs extra motivation to get through those hurdles in life.

This book would be a great text to introduce to students for programs related to National Week of Kindness and to help students understand empathy. There are not many books about having a speech impediment, and having a book written by a young author in the library collection like this one would certainly make the story more personal.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book. It is helpful to build diverse collections for young readers and should be considered by school libraries.

Jayson Goes for it! by Brayden Harrington & David Ritz due to be published on August 29, 2023 by HarperCollins.

This middle-grade book is about a boy who stutters and is friends with other children who are under-represented. Due to this situation, he makes the choice to run for class president.

I found this book to be well-written, inspiring and uplifting. The moral is that everyone should feel comfortable in their own skin and fight for what's right.

My singular "trigger warning" is that this a very liberal book so it may not align with everyone's values.

First off, Yay Brayden for writing this book! It is a huge accomplishment, and while I genuinely wanted to like this book, it was too predictable and went over ground that has already been covered. The focus on Jayson's stuttering is going to help kids be more empathetic to this issue, but the issue regarding gender-neutral bathrooms is too important a cause to be dropped in without more back story and context. I never met any characters who felt this was important, and Jayson's interest in the bathroom issue felt forced. The adult characters were also very predictable and not especially fleshed out. I know there was an adult co-author, so perhaps the intent was to make the book less polished since a young person wrote it.

I recieved a free eARC of this book. Thank you for the opportunity to read it.

Jayson mostly wants to avoid speaking up. As a stutterer, he just wants to avoid drawing attention, except on the basketball court. But when his friend Gloria, who also stutters, is not allowed to participate in debate club except as a researcher because of her speech difficulties, he decides to go for it. He and Gloria run for class president and vice president, with the goal of making things better.

As someone with a speech impediment, it's nice to see a book that approaches things realistically and shows that your speech doesn't have to limit what you have to say. Well done!

You will be cheering Jayson on in this inspirational book full of determination and persistence. Jayson who has a stutter, meets new student Gloria who also has a stutter. She wants to join the debate team and Jayson comes along. Later, they both decide to run for student council president and vice president. When Jayson finds out he has to debate Mack, the most popular student, he isn’t sure he can do it. Jayson gets advice from a speech therapist who reminds him “your stutter is part of who you are but it doesn’t define you.” When the first debate is held, the principal stops it after Jayson stutters. When the second debate is held, the principal stops is when he doesn’t like the issues Jayson wants to debate. There are two more debates to be held. Will they happen? Who ends up being voted in as class president? This debut novel is by Brayden Harrington who showed the nation his bravery during the 2020 presidential election. This book deserves ten stars!