The Test

Gr 5–7—Jenna is getting tired of no longer being the best middle school swimmer on her Cape Cod team. Some newer girls have moved in and stolen her glory, so when she sees the fliers for the Junior Lifeguard program, she gets excited. Jenna manages to convince her friends to join her in the tryouts, and her coach agrees to let her take a break from the team for the summer in order to try out for the program and go through the training. Jenna and her friends have to conquer multiple tests, and their relationships become strained in the process. Secondary characters Piper, Selena, and Ziggy all come with their own family histories and backstories. Some of these are rather clunkily inserted, such as Ziggy's parents' opposition to capitalism. Still, this novel is brimming with wholesome tween drama and boy crushes. It brings to mind the cheery it-all-ends-well tone of books from another era, but it also perpetuates stereotypes of middle school girls being obsessed with the cute boys surrounding them. Some scenes attempt to add more emotional heft but fall flat in the face of overwhelming fluffiness.