My eleven year old daughter really enjoyed reading this book and has continued to reread it many times.

This was a good book about friendship and forgiveness, and I think as a Middle word book, it covers on many things very well, but also very sensitively for the Raiders and for that reason I’m giving it three stars are really enjoyed this, and I thought it was a really fast paced, easy to read fast book.

This book has characters that feel real. If I was a child reading this, I feel as though I could relate to at least one of the characters within. This is a great read for younger readers.

Gloppy is an engaging and well written slice-of-life chapter novel for middle grade readers by Janice Laakko. Released in August 2021, it's 170 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is a compassionate and gently written book with appealingly realistic characters. The kids the author writes about are believable and real, with honest problems (sometimes of their own making) and real frustrations and stresses. The plot is meandering, it's not linear at all, but it's full of the sort of conflicts, crises, and stresses which 11 year olds everywhere can relate to. There are good discussions about friendship, conflict resolution, cooperation, and competition included here.

The subject matter is age appropriate and handled with care and honesty by the author. It would make a great choice for public or school library acquisition, as well as home reading. It would also be fine for a book club discussion or buddy-read. The author has included discussion questions and topics on her website.

Four and a half stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.