Eb & Flow

By Kelly J. Baptist. Crown Books for Young Readers, March 2023

Kelly J. Baptist won the We Need Diverse Books 2015 Short Story Contest and the 2017 Lee and Low New Voices Honor Award. She works as a Social Emotional Learning Interventionist in southwestern Michigan. “Eb and Flow” was inspired by her consideration of what students do when they serve suspension. Her debut novel was “Isaiah Dunn Is My Hero” (Random House, 2020).

One rule that seems to transcend every corner of this country is that boys don’t hit girls. But Flow pushed Eb after she slapped him, and now both of them have been suspended. The aftermath of their debacle is told in alternating voices; the ultimate he said/she said. In their isolation, both Eb and Flow dig through their emotions to get to the truth of what they did. That sounds well and good, except peers, family, and society all have voices in how these two should behave.

What works:

Baptist writes this middle-grade novel in verse form, letting thoughts and feelings emerge from these young people who are there, just figuring things out. This suspension gives them time at home to see things in new ways, slightly more grown-up ways. Readers are there with them, unbound by paragraphs, narrators, voices of reason, or didactic characters. This slice of preteen life gives us plenty to ponder. Start with that cover: the two are standing back-to-back, eyes raging with emotions. Flow’s shoes are scuffed, and it is cold out there! And, don’t miss what she did with the names there!

What Doesn’t Work:

I think Baptist delivers as promised.

Pass it OR Grab it?

Grab it for your library or community wide read.