Welcome Back, Maple Mehta-Cohen

Name: Welcome Back, Maple Mehta-Cohen
Brand: Brilliance Audio
Availability: InStock
Author: Kate McGovern
ISBN: 9781713587934

Author: Kate McGovern

Narrator: Soneela Nankani

Unabridged: 5 hr 50 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Candlewick on Brilliance Audio

Published: 10/12/2021

Categories: Children's Fiction, Children's Social Themes, Bullying

Synopsis

Maple is in fifth grade—again. Now everyone will find out she struggles with reading—or will they? An engaging read for anyone who has ever felt different.Maple Mehta-Cohen has been keeping a secret: she can’t read all that well. She has an impressive vocabulary and loves dictating stories into her recorder—especially the adventures of a daring sleuth who’s half Indian and half Jewish like Maple herself—but words on the page just don’t seem to make sense to her. Despite all Maple’s clever tricks to hide her troubles with reading, her teacher is on to her, and now Maple has to repeat fifth grade. Maple is devastated—what will her friends think? Will they forget about her? She uses her storytelling skills to convince her classmates that she's staying back as a special teacher’s assistant (because of budget cuts, you know). But as Maple navigates the loss of old friendships, the possibility of new ones, and facing her reading challenges head-on, her deception becomes harder to keep up. Can Maple begin to recognize her own strengths, and to love herself—and her brain—just the way she is? Readers who have faced their own trials with school and friendships will enjoy this heartwarming story and its bright, creative heroine.

About Kate McGovern

KATE McGOVERN is the acclaimed author of the young adult novels Rules for 50/50 Chances and Fear of Missing Out, which School Library Journal described as “a compelling and heart-rending read that should not be missed.” Welcome Back, Maple Mehta-Cohen, her debut novel for middle-grade readers, evolved out of her experiences working with middle schoolers in classrooms and after-school programs. She was inspired by many of her former students: young people who, like Maple, are bright, curious, engaged kids with many gifts but who sometimes struggle with reading. Kate McGovern lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her husband, Neheet, and their daughters, Priya and Kavya.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Vicki

Maple is a fifth grader. She struggles with reading, even though she has a wonderful vocabulary and is a great story teller. Her parents show wonderful patience and confidence in Maple, standing by, but not intervening. Her family has a tradition for gift giving that I thought was marvelously wonderfu......more

Goodreads review by Jerry

Welcome Back Maple Mehta-Cohen by Kate McGovern, 2021, is an excellent work of middle grade fiction. Welcome Back Maple Mehta-Cohen is a realistic middle grade book about Maple and her struggle to accept that she can’t read (and thus is being held back in fifth grade) and begin her journey toward li......more

Goodreads review by Brittany

This is going to be an important book to so many kids. It checks a lot of boxes for the making of a great middle-grade book: messy family situations, changing dynamics with friends, and trying to figure out who you are. What makes this stand out from the rest, is that Maple is repeating fifth grade......more

Goodreads review by Heather

What a delightful little book this was. My heart actually broke for all poor Maple was going through. As a mom I just wanted to hug her but then kindly and gently shake some sense in her to go tell her parents everything! She was such a sweet thing going through such a hard thing and I hated that sh......more

Goodreads review by Darla

But just because you don't write or think in exactly the same way as everyone else, it doesn't mean your ideas aren't just as valuable. Maple Mehta-Cohen is being held back for another year of 5th grade. She is mortified when her name is on the list of students who have to go to a special reading gro......more

Quotes

“Narrator Soneela Nankani creates a believable portrayal of a biracial Jewish-Indian girl who is grappling with dyslexia.… Nankani sympathetically portrays Maple's shame as she lies to her new fifth-grade classmates and continues trying to hide her reading difficulties. Nankani creates distinct voices for the adults and kids in Maple's life, conveying the kind concern of teachers, the open friendliness of classmates, and the snooty disregard of sixth-grade former friends.” —AudioFile Magazine“Poignant. . . For young people who struggle with reading or feeling different because of other academic issues, Maple is a welcome protagonist.”
—School Library Journal“Frank and quirky. . . A layered, utterly readable novel.”
—Kirkus Reviews