Hidden Truths, by Elly Swartz, is a great middle grade novel about two best friends, Dani and Eric, whose friendship has to try and overcome a tragic accident. There are so many elements I loved about this book: a girl who is great at sports, a boy who loves crossword puzzles, supportive families that don't look completely perfect. Most of all, though, I love that Swartz lets kids sit with the uncomfortable feeling that bad things happen sometimes, and they aren't always quickly resolved.
I highly recommend this for upper elementary or middle school kids!

Another out of the park #middlegrade story from @ellyswartzbooks 👏🏼
Dani and Eric are best friends! Eric is anticipating the arrival of Dani after baseball camp for their final camp out before their 6th grade year starts; once she arrives it’s as if no time had passed. Dani gets to share her excitement with Eric of being the only girl to make the baseball team and then the first night camping a tragic accident occurs. Dani struggles with blame and starts to drive a wedge between her and Eric, and Eric carries so much guilt he is working overtime to fix something he didn’t start.
Preorder NOW to see if Eric and Dani work out their friendship or if they go into middle school with new friend groups.
Kudos Elly, you’ve done it again!

Hidden Truths is engaging storytelling from a kind and thoughtful middle grades/upper elementary voice. Elly Swartz shares about hope, discovering who you are, supporting friends and loved ones, and the difficult journeys we sometimes find ourselves on in life. A rich text to share with young readers.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read the ARC for this book. This was a wonderful story of the ways that friendships can change. The featured themes were relevant to young people's lives. It kept me interested the entire time.

Hidden Truths was a dual POV story that showed how bff's can fall out of favor with one another, and how hard it is to come back together. I enjoyed the storyline and details about baseball as well as rehabbing an injury. The small town setting was also fun.

Elly Swartz does it again! Another fabulous MG book that readers of all ages will absolutely love. You will be drawn to the story from page one. The chapters are short and gripping. With alternating perspectives, we are left wanting more. It's a book that's impossible to put down! Readers will love learning about Dani and Eric and the special bond that they have. They're the best of friends and always have each others' backs... until the accident. Eric feels responsible for what happens to Dani and Dani begins to blame him after a new "friend" convinces her that Eric is awful. Will their friendship be over forever, or will they find a way back into each others' lives?

Eric and Dani are weeks away from sixth grade. When a traditional end of summer camping trip ends tragically, Eric and Dani go through emotional and physical challenges that test and redefine their friendship. Told in alternating chapters, Eric and Dani come to life along with the supporting characters. Swartz has a good handle on how kids think, act, feel, and speak. Love this quote: "Healing is a marathon, not a sprint."

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC of this middle grade novel.

I think Elly Swartz does a wonderful job writing for the middle grade population and this book is no exception. This book would make for a wonderful class read aloud. This book did a great job dealing with both Dani's grief, and Eric's guilt. It's well told, and relatable, and will find a place on many classroom shelves.

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC of this book.

Hidden Truths by Elly Swartz is a delightful book about friendship and forgiveness. Dani and Eric are best friends. On a camping trip together, an accident happens and Dani becomes unable to play baseball which is her life-long dream. Eric suspects he is at fault for the accident. The book explores Dani's loss, Eric's self-blame, bullying, Dani blaming Eric, and ultimately forgiveness. This is a warm hug of a book!

When an author writes a book as outstanding as DEAR STUDENT, sometimes the next one is disappointing. Not in the case of Elly Swartz! HIDDEN TRUTHS is another fantastic middle grade read that has humor, action, realistic school personalities, drama, and warmth that will satisfy readers of her works and that of writers like McCall Hoyle, Lindsay Stoddard, and Barbara O’Connor.

Told in alternating perspectives of Eric and Dani, the depth and length of their friendship is made abundantly clear in just a few chapters. But when disaster hits and Dani’s joy over making the all-boy school baseball team and Eric’s guilt begin to take their toll, it also becomes clear that sometimes changes can be forever. Themes of determination, friendship, and honesty are woven into a realistic story that will satisfy all.

Thanks, NetGalley, for an advance look at this winner that is perfect for libraries serving grades 4-7. Text is free of profanity, sexual content, and violence. Families are diverse in make up, one oblique reference to a school friend who uses the pronouns “they/them,” and ethnic/racial characteristics are too vague to identify clearly, allowing readers to visualize for themselves.

This story about friendship, accidents and learning the true value of forgiveness would be a great addition to a school library. Watching the characters change and grow throughout the story and having students be able to see some of themselves in the characters makes this book a winner.

Dani ad Eric have been friends for as long as they can remember. But after an accident on a camping trip, their friendship is rocked by shame, social pressures, and guilt. Will they be able to push through their growing differences?

I absolutely adored this book and will definitely be adding it to our shelves. It is the perfect addition to any middle grade library. I immediately fell in love with Eric’s character. Kind, caring, and a superhero of his own, Eric is a great role model for young kids. Dani on the other hand, is less likable. Even though her actions are driven by her anguish and loss of identity, she completely abandons who she is / once was. As she struggles to find her new self, she is forced to look inward and find what truly matters to her - which in the end is what saved her from being completely un-likable.

This book is filled with topics of friendship, grief, acceptance (both from other and of self), growing up, and doing the right thing. I can definitely see this being turned into a motion picture.

ARC received from NetGalley.

Hidden Truths is the story of Eric and Dani, soon-to-be sixth graders who have been close friends for the longest time. Eric loves superheroes and comics and is often bullied at school. Dani is athletic and has recently made the boys’ baseball team at school.
Early in the morning during their annual campout with Eric’s family, there is an explosion. Eric stepped out of the camper to take care of business and rushed in to pull Dani out before the camper was engulfed in flames. People say Eric is a hero and saved Dani’s life. He is pretty sure the accident is all of his fault and because of it Dani’s chances of returning to baseball seem impossible.
Their friendship begins to falter when Eric confesses to Dani that the accident is all his fault. The void in their lives is filled with two new friends. For Eric, it’s Rachel, the cute girl he is paired with to work on a project about safety during their Speak Out! club. Dani is befriended by Meadow who just happened to be at the hospital where her sister is recovering from her own accident.
Told in alternating chapters from Eric and Dani’s perspectives, this realistic fiction title handles the complications that come along with middle school friendships, bullying, family dynamics and love interests beautifully.

I received an advance reader copy of this through NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Hidden Truths is a story about two middle school kids, Dani and Eric. Dani has just made it onto the all boys baseball team as the first girl ever. Eric is her superhero obsessed, ADHD scatterbrained best friend. An accident at their end of the summer camping trip crushes Dani's dreams and changes everything about their friendship.

I am at a loss for words on this book. It touched on so many difficult topics and weaved them all together into such an amazing story. It goes through the gambit of feelings - anger, sadness, hope, determination - not in a linear progression, but in a realistic cycle where feelings were constantly coming back around. I really liked how Eric's ADHD was portrayed and how he described it in his own words. This book was just very nicely done overall and I feel would make a great classroom read-aloud.

This is a fantastic middle grade fiction filled with adventure, humor and heart. Story is realistic and students will be able to relate. Great themes of friendship and honesty through the story.

A MG story about loss, forgiveness and the power of friendship.
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Meet Dani: she’s back from baseball camp this summer and finally made the team as the first girl pitcher!
Meet Eric: He’s Dani’s best friend who’s been waiting for baseball camp to be over so they could use his father’s new camper out at the lake.
When they go with Eric’s dad, the camper catches on fire and it’s Eric who pulls an injured Dani out, saving her life. Unfortunately, Dani suffers several injuries that keep her from playing baseball this season. While she’s recovering the two best friends start drifting further apart as Eric searches for the truth of what happened with the fire and Dani tries to forget it and move on. Will they be able to get back to where they were before?
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This was such a beautifully told middle grade book about two best friends growing up and growing apart, which usually does happen at this age. New friends, first crushes, struggling to stand up for one another—it was all so relatable for our kids and I teared up more than once. I loved the Jewish and ADHD representation, and @ellyswartzbooks did an amazing job describing grief, healing and the bond these two have for one another that has Eric so passionately devoted to the cause of shining a light on the responsible party of the fire. I downloaded and read this in one day. You’ll be just as invested when it releases October 31.

CW: hospitalization, fire, injuries, bullying, death of a grandparent (recounted)