4th grade books
4th grade reading books
5th grade books
5th grade reading books
A01=Rebecca Bendheim
anxiety relief for kids
Author_Rebecca Bendheim
books for girls age 9 12
books for kids age 8-10
Category=YFM
Category=YFMF
Category=YX
Category=YXBD
Category=YXHB
Category=YXHL
Category=YXW
chapter books for kids age 8-10
chapter books for kids age 9-12
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eq_childrens
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feelings books for children
friendship
girls books ages 9-12
growth mindset books for kids
kids books ages 9-12
kindness
lgbt
lgbt books
lgbt children's books
lgbtq books
middle grade
self esteem books for kids
self-esteem
social emotional books for kids
social skills for kids
Product details
- ISBN 9780593695135
- Weight: 380g
- Dimensions: 148 x 221mm
- Publication Date: 07 Apr 2026
- Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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Before she moved from Austin to Rhode Island, everybody knew Lacey as one half of an inseparable duo: Lacey-and-Grace, best friends since they were toddlers. Grace and her mums were practically family. But at school, being lumped together with overeager, worm-obsessed, crushes-on-everyone Grace meant Lacey never quite fit in - and that’s why at her new middle school, Lacey plans to reinvent herself. This time, she’s going to be cool. She’s going to be normal.
At first, everything seems to go as planned. Lacey makes new friends right away, she finds a rabbi to help her prepare for the bat mitzvah that got deprioritised by her parents in the chaos of the move, and she even gets cast in the lead role of the school musical. Which is when things start to get stressful, because it turns out the students at her new school have a long-standing, unofficial tradition: No matter what the show is, in the final performance, the leads always kiss for real.
Lacey’s never kissed anyone before - she’s not even sure she’s ever had a crush. And in Bye, Bye, Birdie, there are a few different co-lead kiss possibilities for Lacey to choose from. There’s confident, cocky Andre. There’s sweet, friendly Jaden. And then there’s the other new girl at school: dryly funny, impossibly cool Violet.
But while her new friends and older sister create whiteboard wall charts and botched field trip schemes to help her decide, suddenly Lacey can’t stop thinking about Grace, who she was so sure she wanted to leave behind. When Grace comes back into her life, Lacey needs to decide if she's brave enough to be who she really is, in front of the person who matters most.
Rebecca Bendheim is a middle school teacher, poet, and graduate of Vanderbilt and VCFA’s MFA program in writing for children and young adults, where she wrote her critical thesis on queer middle grade and was mentored by Corey Ann Haydu. She has performed her poetry at Lambda Litfest, on NPR, and as a member of Austin's Typewriter Rodeo poetry troupe. Rebecca can be found on social media @RebeccaBendheim.
