Jazz Davies Skips a Beat

Gr 5 Up–Middle schooler Jazz Davies struggles with her parents’ separation, peer pressure, and self-acceptance in this follow-up to Lo Simpson Starts a Revolution. Jazz is finally an It Girl, one of the popular girls at school. But being an It Girl isn’t all she dreamed of—she misses not having to worry about the food she eats or the pressure to have a boyfriend. When her mom leaves the family, Jazz starts to wonder why she wanted to be an It Girl in the first place; these thoughts only grow as her feelings for Ren, her partner is history class with a love for music, begin to flourish. Character voice is a strong suit with most sounding and feeling like real tweens, although the It Girls often feel one-dimensional. The short chapters, sometimes bookended with letters to the protagonist’s estranged mother, keep readers engaged and the story moving at a steady pace. While advertised as a companion, it is best read as a sequel, since the lack of context for prior events/relationships between characters can be jarring. Jazz is described as having curly dark hair, and dark skin.