Kyra, Just for Today

Starred review from January 1, 2024
A middle-grade novel showing how children pay the price of living in families where alcohol is abused. Thirteen-year-old Kyra lives with her mother in Pacifica, a coastal suburb south of San Francisco. Mom, who's in recovery from alcoholism and has been sober for more than five years, has a house-cleaning business. Kyra often helps her out around the holidays--even skipping school (with her mom's permission) so she can pick up more jobs. Kyra also makes her mother breakfast, packs her lunch and snacks, tidies the house, and prepares dinner--in addition to negotiating her self-consciousness at school over being "taller and bigger than most of the other seventh-grade girls" and worrying that her best friend is drifting away. When Mom starts coming home late and acting erratically, Kyra doesn't want to think about why or even share her worries at the support group for children of alcoholics that she attends weekly. Eventually, though, she's forced to confront both her mother's behavior and the effect it's had over the years. Informative and validating, this story is all the more powerful for Kyra's first-person narration, which underscores her love for her mother and her desire to take care of her, as well as her confusion as she confronts feelings of guilt, resentment, and anger. For anyone affected by an alcoholic family member, this story will resonate with searing truth. Most characters read white. Authentic and heartbreaking but hopeful. (author's note) (Fiction. 9-13)

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March 15, 2024

Gr 5 Up-With playful banter, Kyra helps her single mother clean houses before the start of the school day. After school, she cooks, frets about bills, and functions more as a peer than a daughter, all while struggling to fit in with her actual peers in seventh grade. Kyra finds refuge in her weekly support group for teens whose lives are affected by a family member with alcoholism. Her best friend attends the same meetings, and Kyra grows insecure when the social pressures of middle school collide with her safe space. Afraid her friend is drifting away from her, Kyra becomes withdrawn and reluctant to participate at meetings. This leaves her feeling she has nowhere to turn when she suspects that her mother is drinking after five years of sobriety. Kyra's voice is raw and believable as she grapples with shame, self-doubt, and the belief that she is somehow to blame for her mother's relapse. The novel's account of middle school social dynamics will resonate broadly, and its unflinching depiction of life with an alcoholic parent offers an important perspective. Readers will root for Kyra as she learns to trust herself and those around her. Several secondary characters provide unexpected support, but Kyra's resilience and growth are center stage. Kyra and her mother are both white.VERDICT Zarr shines a harsh light on a child's experience growing up in a family affected by alcoholism. For readers in similar situations, that light may offer an essential ray of hope.-Amy Reimann

Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2024
Grades 4-7 With her dad out of the picture and an overly judgmental maternal grandmother, Kyra and her mom, Meg, have had only each other to lean on. This hasn't been quite a fair balance, however: Meg has struggled with an addiction to alcohol and could not always care for her daughter appropriately. Five years into Meg's recovery, Kyra continues to prioritize her mother's needs. Viewed one way, the 13-year-old is simply being helpful--making sure her mom has snacks throughout the day, preparing dinner if Meg's been slammed with work. Kyra knows deep down that her mom is trying her best, but she doesn't yet have the language--nor has she given herself permission--to ask for more. The same goes for her social life. Her best friend, Lu, seems to be outgrowing their friendship, leaving Kyra confused as to whether she'll fit in with Kyra's new crew. Rather than portraying a big blowup, this tender middle-grade novel underscores the beauty of uncertainty and having enough faith in one another to try over and over again.

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