Honest June by Tina Wells

Welcome Back, Booklovers! I've been looking for more light-hearted MG to recommend and Honest June caught my with it's adorable premise. It sounded like just enough realism and magic to keep a reluctant reader like my niece hooked.

June's father has her on the path to Howard University carefully planning out what extracurricular activities she should take part in and keeping high standards for her grades. Her mother is a doctor who comes from a family of doctors and she's having a hard time seeing her baby grow up. She wants June to dress like a little kid and June doesn't like the babyish clothes he picks out. She also doesn't like the 7 Up pound cake she bakes every Sunday for dinner but she'll lie and eat it in order to avoid disappointing her mother. Just like she lies about wanting to be a lawyer when she grows up. June is so used to telling these little white lies to please everyone.

So she's just started middle school and her father has made her join field hockey because he sees a natural talent in her. She's trying to make new friends with the new girl Blake and also keep her head above water in math class where her grades are bad because she's struggling with the formulas.  Her old friends seem to be mostly hanging with each other lately and she's feeling a little left out. Plus there's her friend Lee who she's been crushing on for a bit now.

So one day at the town fair, June has an encounter with a fairy godmother of sorts. This fairy godmother cats a spell on her to make her honest. So whenever June tries to tell a lie she feels dust in her noise, and swirling in her stomach and the discomfort forces her to tell the truth. And June is blunt with it! Her truths were hilarious! She dragged some people's cooking for filth. She said the potato salad was flavorless! No salt, no pepper, so Old Bay, no Lawry's seasoning salt! 

When she really doesn't want to be too harsh but needs to get her truth out she writes it in a blog. I loved that aspect.  The blog posts are sprinkled throughout. Also there were lovely illustrations in this that reminded me of reading a chapter book.

There was great conversation in this book about parents who put too much pressure on their kids.  Especially with more rising conversations about Black people creating a legacy. While the dream is to create a family business that can be passed down to the next generation you can't force someone onto a path that's not meant for them and June's father had to come to that realization. College is about 7 years away but June's father is causing her stress and anxiety wanting her to live up to this perfect image and have the perfect transcripts for school.

 But it was great to see a story with Black kids growing up, navigating school, friendships, crushes, and relationships with their parents.

Looking forward to the next book Honest June: The Show Must Go On!