Up for Air: 07/13/19

Up for Air by Laurie Morrison is about Annabelle's summer between seventh and eighth grades. In school she struggles. She has a large vocabulary but she struggles with retention. Outside of school she's on a swim team and there she excels.

This year, though, Annabelle is offered a chance to swim on the high school team because she is so tall and is one of the most powerful swimmers on her middle school team. With one of her swim team friends going to a summer camp, and with a huge crush on one of the boys on the high school team, Annabelle agrees.

The remainder of the book is Annabelle slowly and painfully coming to realize that she had made a terrible decision. The older kids aren't a particularly good influence on her nor do they respect her beyond what she can do for the team. Instead they treat her like a pet and as someone they can haze.

Fortunately for Annabelle, her mother and step-father take an active role. Often parents are set up to either be absent, or uninterested, or on the flip side, severely strict. Basically parents in these types of coming of age stories are usually foils for the protagonist. Here, they are supportive all the way through but they also know when to step in and stop Annabelle from further self destruction.

Four stars

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