The Ripple Effect
by Rebecca Caprara
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Pub Date Feb 18 2025 | Archive Date Feb 18 2025
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Description
A perfect book club pick to inspire discussion, 9–12-year-old fans of Katherine Applegate’s Wishtree will love this hopeful story about the power of connection.
It’s the end of 6th grade and Zella wants to be the one who thinks of the best class prank—a long-held tradition that administrators allow, with parameters.
In alternating chapters told by Zella, best friends Bowie and Janea, Shelby the school sleuth, and the town of Kettleby, Zella's story reveals her quest to uphold her image as class clown and bask in the spotlight.
As a result, she loses sight of what’s going on in the lives of her two best friends and begins to cause more stress for her mom—who manages their family's failing ice cream shop while caring for Pops. Zella doesn’t mean to cause trouble, but being 12 is hard. Everything is changing, and everyone seems so much cooler and better understood.
When her prank doesn’t go as planned, the entire class is punished, and Zella is to blame. But when Zella's given a second chance, her small, subtle acts of thoughtfulness begin to grow. It turns out that redemption, friendship, and a remarkable chain of kindness tastes even sweeter than her family's famous raspberry ripple ice cream.
With humor and heart, The Ripple Effect's themes of kindness and connection will inspire young readers to even greater compassion and generosity in their own lives.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9781623543242 |
| PRICE | $18.99 (USD) |
| PAGES | 400 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Reviewer 97771
Zella is the class clown, and it’s a yearly tradition for the 6th graders to pull a prank. Zella enlists the help of her classmates when she comes up with an idea. What the others don’t know is that Zella has a bonus prank they don’t know about. When the bonus prank goes wrong, Zella is told it was dangerous. Because of the prank, the class now cannot go on their beach field trip. The principal tells Zella he will give her a second chance to redeem herself and leave the school better than she found it. How she does it is up to her. Does Zella come up with an idea that makes the principal happy?
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.
Reviewer 1198533
The Ripple Effect is a sweet story featuring Zella, the ultimate prankster and class clown. It started out a bit slow for my taste, but by the second half, I could barely put the book down and finished it all in one sitting.
The story is told in a smattering of alternating perspectives, which I think will appeal to some of my students who want to be reading longer books even though they enjoy the bursts of short stories; you get a slightly different take on the plot with each chapter and can combine them in your head to get the complete story.
Zella and her friends seem like they would fit right in with the kids in my school. Though, thankfully, pranks aren’t a thing for us - hopefully my kids will be inspired by the end of the story rather than the beginning!
I’d recommend this book to middle school and upper elementary students who like realistic fiction, humor, and friendship.
