Apartment 1986

February 1, 2017
Seventh-grader Callie is a VERY DEEP philosopher, intent on designing her own positive slogan for mugs and T-shirts. The white girl's focus on only happy thoughts becomes difficult when her dad loses his job--the reason for their move to an upscale apartment on the Upper East Side--and she does not have the concert-ticket money promised to a girl at her snobby private school. Stressed, distracted, and late for school after trying to visit her grandma in the titular apartment, Callie decides to skip altogether and finds herself at the Met, a pattern that repeats over several days. On her first day, she meets light-skinned African-American, unschooled Cassius, and together they spend their days in various museums. Just when Callie's cloyingly cute preteen-speak (littered with capitalizations and exclamation points, ew, OMG!) verges on annoying, real issues surface, not only in her family, but to others. As she learns of her grandparents' rejection of her gay uncle, perceives the racism that Cassius experiences, and deals with her younger brother's bully, her character deepens. Cassius reveals that he has Best disease and is going blind; Callie rushes to rescue him when he is lost on the subway. Callie learns about friendship, her family, and the importance of not being stuck in a regret-filled past. As it moves beyond First World problems, this coming-of-age novel reaches a satisfying depth of character and theme. (Fiction. 10-14)

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February 1, 2017

Gr 5-8-Seventh grader Callie faces many struggles: a recently unemployed father, a bullied younger brother, a rift with an old friend, a failing grade in history, and an expensive concert ticket for which she is expected to pay. Despite all this, Callie works to stay upbeat. One morning she goes to her grandmother's apartment, where she discovers magazines from 1986. Callie skips a day at her elite New York City prep school and goes to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she meets Cassius, a young unschooled boy who she later learns has Best disease. As Callie continues to skip school for the next three days, she becomes aware of old family conflicts and prejudices, which her grandmother avoids discussing by spending time with a neighbor who collects memorabilia from the 1980s and lives in apartment 1986. The events of the week culminate when Callie must choose between taking placement tests for her school and answering a call for help from Cassius. Papademetriou's latest title is about doing the right thing and deciding what is most important in the face of being torn between two loved ones. She also touches on issues of homophobia, bullying, financial turmoil, and pressure to excel academically. Since Callie does have a problem with lying, she is not always a reliable narrator. While initially not every story line seems interconnected and at times the plot is busy, everything ties together in the end to portray satisfying but authentic character growth. Callie realizes that although being positive is important, not everything in life can be fixed.

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2018
Seventh grader Callie's problems at home and at her NYC private school lead her to play hooky to go to museums, where she meets Cassius, an "unschooled" ("like homeschooling...Except my parents don't believe in making lesson plans") African American boy. The new friends eventually work together to uncover a mystery related to Callie's grandmother. The narrative's poignancy develops slowly as this novel explores a number of tough issues.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)