Maci Masaki Makes Her Mark

by Charley Pickle

Overview

Maci's parents won't stop bugging her about getting involved in middle school. Join clubs, meet people, make friends. However, Maci would rather draw quietly than join any of the clubs at school. With the help of some new "weirdo" friends, she finds a way to make her mark at school by painting the school mural.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538382080
Publisher:	Enslow Publishing, LLC
Publication date:	06/16/2020
Series:	We the Weirdos Series
Pages:	64
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 7.12(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	530L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

Editorial Reviews

2020-04-12
A recent immigrant to the United States, Maci must find her place at a new school.

Twelve-year-old Mitsuko Masaki, now going by Maci because Mitsuko is “too hard for Americans to pronounce,” has recently moved to New York from Tokyo. All she wants to do is keep to herself and draw manga. After Maci refuses to do what her parents asked, they lay down the law: She isn’t allowed to sleep in her room until it is cleaned, and she must join the school orchestra. At school, Maci sits next to Amy, a white girl who introduces her to the comic club. During lunch, Maci usually sits, unnoticed, under the “weirdos” table, but Eli and Jayden, both boys of color, discover her and convince her to join the “above-table kids.” With new friends and the comic club, Maci begins to find her place at her new school. This short chapter book is one of a quartet about the weirdos. With themes of being the new kid, making friends, and finding where you fit in, it has an interest level for upper-elementary students, but the brevity, straightforward first-person voice, and occasional illustrations make it an easy read. Maci also works to find a balance between her Japanese culture and American culture, struggling to understand American phrases and to negotiate Japanese practices that now feel out of place, which will feel familiar to many kids in a new environment.

A nice, short, feel-good story about finding your place. (Fiction. 7-12)

Kirkus Reviews