PLANET MIDDLE SCHOOL

In this story of a girl in transition, basketball-loving Joylin is caught between gender norms and a changing body. Narrator Sisi Aisha Johnson’s voicing is fresh and full of energy as she transforms the author’s poetic lines into an aural sketch of Joylin’s life, especially her family and friends. The dynamics between Joylin and her two best friends is shifting as Jake starts to see Joylin as a “girl” on and off the basketball court. Johnson’s natural rhythms stay in sync with Grimes’s story, making every moment of the spare text full and round. A.M.P. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2012]