Summary
It is a truth universally acknowledged that the middle school years are some of the toughest years of childhood. Hormones, friend drama, and family issues converge with academic stress and bullies and extreme self-consciousness. For the girls at Fisher Middle School, one of the added stressors is the dress code.
A few members of the school administration take the dress code very seriously. In fact, recently, one of Molly’s friends was humiliated by the dress coding practices at the school. And, since the principal had used the dress code as the criteria for a year-end camping trip for the 8th graders, he cancelled the trip and blamed the girl, which made many of the other kids turn on her without the full story.
Molly has plenty of her own middle school drama to deal with. Her brother’s vaping has gotten so out of control that her mom quit her job so she could supervise him more closely. This means money is super tight for things like a camping trip or a graduation dress that meets the dress code. But Molly refuses to let her friend take the fall for the camping trip – or let anyone else be humiliated by the dress code policies at school. So Molly starts a podcast. And soon everyone is talking about the dress code.
Review
I was simultaneously horrified and delighted by this dress code story. The stories told in Molly’s podcast were so upsetting! But I was cheering the students on the whole time as they were brave and shared their stories. I loved that Molly refused to back down because she was going to graduate and move onto high school where no one enforced the dress code. She could not abandon her 7th grade friends or the next classes moving up. Her passion was inspiring.
The other threads here – vaping, family strife, friend drama, crushes, etc. – filled in around the dress code story. It was realistic in that the dress code obviously would not be the only thing going on in Molly’s life. I enjoyed the dress code story so much, though, that these other things – especially the vaping – felt at times like distractions. But the main thread got to be the main focus in the end. And all the pieces together helped Molly find and use her voice, both at school and at home. And I love a good story about a character finding her voice!
This would be a great story for young activists as well as for talking about dress codes, body shaming, sexism, puberty, and the rest. Young podcasters might also enjoy reading about how Molly uses her podcast to elevate the voices of the voiceless. Don’t miss this one! (LGBTQ+ and disability representation in the larger cast, TW: Bullying)
Rating: ♥♥♥♥*
*♥♥♥♥=Great! Might re-read.