Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

Thank you so much for the review copy! I really enjoyed this sweet middle grade about womanhood, friendships, and puberty. As a former academic decathlon kid (in New Jersey!) I felt so seen by that aspect of the story too.

Piper is convinced that growing up is going to ruin her life. She's working hard to try to win the academic decathalon with her best friend, and her baby sister is keeping her mom's attention off her. She's been taking medicine since she was six years old to keep puberty away because she has early-onset puberty. When her doctor and her mom decide its time for Piper to end her treatment, Piper isn't as convinced.

First, I'll say that this book isn't a book for every kid. For some kids, the concepts of early onset puberty and puberty blockers, sexism, periods, and growing up might be too much. The book can feel heavy at times while Piper is trying to identify and come to terms with growing up and recognizing parts of the world that are difficult or unfair. However, if the reader is already grappling with those issues or has the maturity to think about them, then this book could be for them. Maybe. If the reader is already struggling with the negatives of being of growing up as a girl and how female bodies and expectations come into play, then maybe the book would be too much? A lot of readers should proceed with caution, and parents, teachers, and librarians may want to read it first. I probably wouldn't recommend this book for kids the same age as as Piper, but kids a little older might be a better audience.

As an adult, I loved it. My personal impression was a wholehearted five stars, even though the audience part is tricky. I don't think I would have been the right audience for it as a kid, but as a grown-up? This book touched aches from growing up in a special way. Things like not feeling completely seen by parents or struggling with something you can't name but you're starting to notice things that don't completely make sense were very real to me when I was growing up. The book spoke to that kid in me who had lots of questions, and I appreciated that.

Piper is an interesting character because she's generally selfish and shortsighted. She only cares about the things in her life and the things important to her, and she doesn't always react well to people pointing out that she might be wrong. She's extremely dramatic. It works in many ways because she's so intelligent that she might be less likely to listen to other people's perspectives at first, but she does change her mind on many things as she goes along her journey of accepting that she needs to grow up. Through it all, she feels very real, and the diverse cast of characters compliments Piper and her eccentricities.

I like how it grappled with big issues like the best friend feeling like she has to represent her entire race as one of the few entrants ever in the decathalon. I like how Piper started to see young boys sexualize women without her or the boys fully understanding what was going on but not feeling good about it. It's as complex and rich as growing up.

This may be the most scattered review I've ever written, and it's for good reason. I loved it, but it's also one of the deepest, most philosophical middle-grade books I've read. I loved it. But I can't say it belongs on every bookshelf. For me, it was five stars. For the audience it's meant for? I don't know.

I really enjoyed this middle grade book by a new to me author about a young girl with early onset puberty (a condition I knew little about). A great story about family, growing up and mental health perfect for young readers who might be experiencing any of the same things. Recommended for fans of books like The remarkable journey of Coyote Sunrise. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

I am so excited to have found this story. My daughter is going through a similar medical path, and she was so excited to find a character I. The story that knows what it is like to go through early onset puberty. She has read it at least 3 times already.

Really enjoyed the character Piper and the elements addressed in this story (blended families, nonbinary/trans characters, puberty, neurodivergence, systemic oppression). This story would be helpful and interesting to children in the age group, and it will be nice to have a recommendation on this topic.

Here's another author who I respected venturing into territory unsuitable for elementary age kids, not because of the topic, but because of the way the author handled it.

Piper has had her early onset puberty halted with puberty blockers she's taken since age 6. Now she's 11 and her doctor wants to discontinue the medication so puberty can happen naturally. Piper is mortified at the prospect of starting her period, growing breasts, and anything else that has to do with becoming a woman, like having a baby and breastfeeding. She doesn't understand why she can't keep taking puberty blockers like her transgender friend Ivan.

Meanwhile, as she and her best friend, Tallulah, prepare for the Academic Decathlon competition, Piper begs her mom to allow her to stay on the medication until the competition is over, fearing that having a period during the competition will interfere with her ability to do well. As bad luck would have it, Piper and her two friends all end up having menstruation incidents that do indeed threaten to interfere with the competition because they are stuck in the bathroom too long.

There are many things that bothered me about this book, the least of which is Piper's annoyingly selfish personality. The second, also annoying, is the way Piper crosses out what she wants to say, in favor of what's nice to say, which the author seems to be suggesting isn't necessarily the right thing to do. Well, guess what? If people held their tongues more, it would do wonders for our mental health. Just turn on the news or read a comment feed and see where "saying what's on your mind" has gotten us. Of course there are things we need to talk about, but I'm thankful for my parents who advised me to keep my mouth shut if I didn't have anything nice to say. "Fake it til you make it" works for me. The author seems to question this advice.

But what really bothered me about this book is the negative view of women, perpetuated by the current culture, making girls resent all the biological things that make them different from males. There's no question puberty sucks for girls. But it's never sucked as bad as it does today. Rather than reminding girls of the incredible, scientifically complex, dare I say miracle, it is to host the creation of another life, the downside being a monthly period, we drill into them the idea that men get off easy and it isn't fair. And so feelings of resentment, selfishness, anxiety, even panic, are unnecessarily burdening prepubescent girls today.

Carter chooses a different path of blame for the puberty anxiety in girls. For most of the book Piper struggles over something she can't put into words. Systemic oppression. She doesn't want to be a woman because she doesn't want to be oppressed. All I can say is I grew up in the 70s and 80s. I never once felt held back. I never once felt there was a job off the table for me. I never once felt oppressed because I was female. Every time I found myself unprepared in a bathroom once a month, I thought, "This sucks." But I never, ever, equated the suckiness with gender oppression. Please.

I did manage to muster up two stars for Carter's valiant save where all the moms and girls rally around Piper when she has her period at the competition. The message being that as long as girls stick together and support one another, they can get through anything. It helps Piper realize that getting her period is not the end of the world. However, the 180 change in dreading her period to actually talking about it in her competition speech, was a stretch I didn't find believable. But I do appreciate the suggestion that we need to be able to talk more about periods without being embarrassed because embarrassment equals stress and that needs to stop.

Overall, it's a downer of a book, despite the colorful, attractive cover. I didn't visualize the abandoned car greenhouse as a beautiful tapestry of color at all. My overall impression is that books this deep and dark should be reserved for older kids. I know my students, and I can tell you, I have 4th, 5th, and even 6th graders who would be uncomfortable with this book. If you choose to put it in your library, I would be sure to inform the student about the full content of the book. I did this with Alyson Gerber's Taking Up Space, about an eating disorder, and my 5th grader decided she didn't want to read it. So I moved the book to my 7th/8th library where I have no worries about its appropriateness.

Know your kids and what they can handle, then proceed with caution.

This middle grade novel was absolutely amazing. I was sucked in from the very beginning and could not stop turning pages. It takes a topic that is likely less known to readers (precocious puberty) but makes it so relatable. There is a diverse cast of characters who are flawed and lovable. It strikes the perfect balance of not being too preachy/obvious with its messages, but also not so sophisticated that the intended audience would miss the important points. This is an excellent novel both for adults who love middle grade and (I believe) for middle grade students themselves.

Original, informative and just plain good. I like Piper and her view of the world. Her math skills are phenomenal. The ending wraps it up in a nice not too deep and yet deep way. The period had to happen and honestly not quite they way it really goes but it did make for some great drama.

This is a really good representation of hormone therapy in kids and how it affects them. There are trans characters and there is explanation of how that works for them.
Piper doesn't want to go through puberty, so she has hormone shots to delay it. She would rather worry about math and the decathlon than going through puberty and having crushes. There is push back between her and her mom and stepdad.
I liked her friend Tallulah and how they played off each other and had this whole garden area that they hung out in.
A good book filled with hormones, puberty, school, smarts, friendships and family.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC.

Piper has precocious puberty and has shots which her mom now wants her to stop having. Piper doesn’t want to stop having the shots because she doesn’t want to go through puberty, and she doesn’t want to look like a woman. Piper has this on her mind while she and her best friend Tallulah are studying for the Academic Decathlon. No two-girls team has ever won the decathlon. Can the girls win it? Can Piper talk her mom into letting her keep getting the shots?

4.5 stars

Caela Carter does not disappoint, but this author DOES come with surprises, and this time, they're all wrapped up in one unusual and memorable character: the titular Piper.

Now as an English professor, I'm never trying to talk about math, but I like Piper enough to give it a try.

Piper's world is *divided* - as the title suggests - into a binary state of before and after puberty. Since Piper began precocious puberty at age six, she has been deeply impacted by her body, what it represents, and how unpredictable it is. For obvious reasons, this situation really changes the way Piper looks at other AFAB people, especially. Her older sister's period? Horrible, painful, and a life ruining. Her mom's recent pregnancy, postpartum physical issues, and the constant disregard of her Ph.D. by everyone she meets? Unacceptable. Forget about those girls in _Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret_ and _Punky Brewster_ who were DYING for their periods and breasts to arrive. Piper is down to take the most drastic measures to stay in a child's body forever.

Reader, you may be asking yourself - often - how the heck Piper has arrived at her dramatic worldview. What's funny is that more and more characters outright ask her this, and even though you will be in her head the whole time, you will also ask it. In some ways, it's frustrating to understand how someone so logical can be so focused on an illogical outcome, but this same detail makes Piper a powerful character because her experience is so different from many people's. When she gets language for all of this, her journey becomes more intriguing and less frustrating.

There are so many wonderful secondary characters here including but not limited to Piper's friends, Tallulah and Ivan (and Daisy), her poor mom (you'll want to give this woman a hug for many reasons), her big sister, Eloise, and several others who play smaller but still memorable roles. Piper's body and mind may have divided her world in an atypical way, but she does know how to add quite the group of supporters.

Piper is not without her sticking points, but this is another intriguing read from a proven author, and it covers a topic that may be new to many and ties it into one that is familiar to the masses. I'm looking forward to recommending this to students and interested readers alike.