Charlotte Andrews is nervous about starting middle school. Not only is she riding a school bus for the first time, but her mother insisted she take musical theater class and she just knows that the speech teacher is going to pull her out of class to work on her stuttering. She’s been working on her stuttering for years, and she is embarrassed when she gets singled out. And what if she’s not in any classes with her best fried Maddie?
And then it starts, and things are not okay. Charlotte and Maddie see Ben get bullied on the school bus. Two older boys start making fun of him, and no one stops them. Charlotte wants to speak up, but what if stutters? She’d be so embarrassed, and they might start teasing her about that. But Maddie wants to tell someone who can help, and she ends up going to the principal’s office.
Charlotte chooses not to speak up, but she gets called to the office anyway. She still doesn’t say anything, but she does write out what she saw and hopes that it helps Ben. And the next day, when she goes to sit on the bus, she sees that the bullies are sitting right behind Maddie, like they know that she’s the one who got them in trouble, and Charlotte doesn’t sit with her. She chooses to walk by and sit further back. It’s a big mistake, and she regrets it immediately, but she can’t find the courage to change seats.
She tries to apologize to Maddie later, but saying sorry isn’t enough, and days go by with Charlotte feeling like a bad friend and a bad person. Charlotte finds that she enjoys her classes, especially her English class where she gets to write every day. And in musical theater class, she finds out that they’ll be performing The Wizard of Oz, which is one of her favorite movies, and she immediately starts on her audition piece for Glinda the Good Witch.
But nothing she does can make up for the Bad Thing she did to Maddie. Not when she writes Ben a note, saying that she thinks he’s brave. Not when she starts anonymously leaving encouraging notes in lockers and backpacks all over the school. And when the school board decides that this year will the last for the musical theater class, and Charlotte decides to start writing letters to the school board and local media outlets, that’s still not enough to make up for the Bad Thing.
The only thing that will help is to apologize to Maddie and see if she can forgive her. But does Charlotte have enough courage to find her voice and say those words to her former best friend?
Say It Out Loud is a charming novel that takes on all the difficult feelings of middle school. For a lot of kids, this is the first time they experience bullying, the first time they get excluded just for being young. And when you add in something that makes them feel different, like Charlotte’s stuttering, then processing those feelings get even more difficult. Author Allison Varnes understands, and she fills Charlotte’s story with kindness and grace, offering hope and warmth for kids struggling with those feeling guilt or shame or just feeling small and powerless.
I loved Charlotte’s story. I thought it was lovely how Charlotte found her voice through writing, whether it’s the encouraging notes she started leaving wherever she went or the journaling she did for her English teacher. Using musical theater as a way to help Charlotte find her confidence and her voice was smart plotting as well as a lot of fun. Say It Out Loud is a great tool for encouraging kids to find and use their voice, and an entertaining story as well.
Egalleys for Say It Out Loud were provided by Random House Books for Young Readers through NetGalley, with many thanks.
