  | Full Text Reviews: Booklist - 10/01/2021 Fourteen-year-old Marigold Johnson is an aspiring fashion designer, and she happens to be the daughter of the owners of fashion brand Flexx Unlimited, which is the future of hip-hop fashion. When she learns her best friend, Justice, has applied for a summer job opportunity at Flexx, she can’t resist asking her parents to work there as well so she can spend her summer with her friend while gaining some fashion experience. However, working at Flexx and making new friends doesn’t come as easy as she thought it would, and Marigold’s summer only becomes more complicated when she uncovers a secret that turns her world completely upside down. Chase explores the strength and power of familial bonds and friendships when faced with hardships. The book also delves into the topics of conformity and identity and the weight that they hold on an adolescent’s sense of belonging. This will resonate with tweens and teens who are gaining an understanding of who they are and where they fit in. - Copyright 2021 Booklist. School Library Journal - 12/01/2021 Gr 5 Up—Fourteen-year-old Marigold is the heiress apparent to a thriving hip-hop and clothing empire, Flexx Unlimited, owned by her adoring parents. She and her best friend (and secret crush) Justice are two of the only Black students at an elite private school in DC; Marigold attends because her parents are wealthy, and Justice because he has an athletic scholarship. When Justice announces that he is planning on pursuing a summer internship with her parents' company through a special fashion program designed to help young people from some of DC's poorest backgrounds, Mari decides to join the program as well. Because she is the bosses' daughter and comes from privilege, she feels excluded from the other interns, including Justice. One of the interns in particular seems to have a mysterious grudge against her, the origin of which is revealed in the 12th hour of the novel. The book reads a bit like an after-school special. Mari's relationship with her parents seems a little too easy, even when she discovers they've lied to her, and the resolution of the story arrives abruptly and is slightly on the saccharine side. Nevertheless, the book does a refreshing job exploring friendship, socioeconomic classes, and race without being too didactic or heavy. VERDICT Although an unrealistic resolution and speedy ending hamper the novel, middle grade readers who enjoy stories about fashion and friendship, rooted in real-world issues, will enjoy.—Jennifer Knight, Coos Bay P.L., OR - Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Loading...
 |