Jennifer Chan Is Not Alone by Tae Keller

By setting the victim, the missing Jennifer, into the narrative background, Keller directs the flood light onto Mallory and company and aims responsibility (and possible redemption) right where it belongs. In an illuminating author's note Keller discloses, 'I was the girl in the bathroom-the girl pressed up against the sinks,' and that in her effort to come to terms with that ugly episode, she contacted and conversed with several of her bullies years later, discovering private motivations and, in some cases, the better persons they now prove themselves to be. Shortly afterward, Jennifer goes missing, and as Keller reels out and reveals a widening circle of culpability, readers uncomfortably observe how the bullying was enabled not only by perpetrators' actions, but by spontaneous bad decisions made by kids on the fringe of the drama. This outré belief is a non-starter for middle school success, and Mallory knows she needs to distance herself from Jennifer to maintain her elite status soon her own behavior starts to mirror that of Tess and Reagan, which escalates into a mean girls confrontation. Jennifer's plainspoken confidence intrigues Mallory, especially when she holds forth on alien life she staunchly believes in. Her wobbly ethical balance tips, though, when her mother arranges a meeting with new neighbor Jennifer Chan, who has recently lost her father to illness. (Apr.Mallory is a relative newcomer to the popular seventh-grade set, and though she sometimes feels pangs of unease at the harsh opinions held by queen bees Tess and Reagan, she swats those doubts away easily and becomes something of an artist at spinning introspective justifications. Its core message about bullying and its effect on both the bully and their target offer a sincere look into individuals’ desire for acceptance. Keller ( When You Trap a Tiger) uses a vulnerable first-person narrative that alternates between past and present to sensitively detail the emotional roller coaster of navigating changing social rules, the anxieties of being oneself, and the process of coming to terms with one’s flaws. After Jennifer runs away, Mal searches for her, using the help of entries from one of Jennifer’s notebooks, determined to make up for past mistakes by solving the mystery behind her absence. Mal’s certainty that their classmates won’t accept Jennifer’s idiosyncrasies are confirmed when school begins and Jennifer becomes the target of harassment at the hands of Mal’s best friends Tess and Reagan, both cued as white. But when Mal learns that Jennifer believes in aliens, she worries that pursuing a friendship will negatively impact her social status at school. Jennifer Chan Is Not Alone, Tae Keller’s first book since winning the 2021 Newbery Medal for When You Trap a Tiger, begins at the end of everything for friends Mallory, Reagan and Tess. Unaccustomed to new kids moving to Norwell, Fla., 12-year-old Mal Moss, who is part Korean and part white, is excited when Chinese American classmate Jennifer arrives.

Jennifer Chan Is Not Alone by Tae Keller