How to Tell a True Story
by Tricia Springstubb
Middle School    Ferguson/Holiday    304 pp.
4/25    9780823458486    $17.99
e-book ed.  9780823462209    $10.99

From the opening chapter, Springstubb (Looking for True, rev. 11/22) creates a sense of unease by deftly foreshadowing an impending disaster. And so it happens: the Prices’ home burns to the ground. During the fire, seventh grader Amber is trapped in the attic; her older brother, Gage, heroically rescues her, and although the Prices lose their house and their possessions, they survive. Sort of. Amber, her mother, and younger sister move in with Amber’s maternal aunt while Gage and their father rent an apartment, making Amber realize that her parents’ fighting may well be leading to divorce. Amber, who considers herself as nondescript and amorphous as an amoeba, returns to school, suddenly the center of attention and the darling of the popular kids, putting her sometimes at odds with her previous besties but allowing her longtime crush to notice her. To complicate matters, her classmates instigate a fundraiser, the Price of Kindness, to help the family, a gesture her proud father wants to reject. And Gage becomes more and more withdrawn and noncommunicative. Short chapters allow readers to contemplate each action and reaction as information surfaces about the cause of the fire. Amber struggles with obligations to the family, relationships with friends and classmates, and her own sense of self. From middle-school angst to big moral questions, this fast-moving story covers much territory without crowding the narrative.

From the ">May/June 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.