hmm sooo I didn't like this as much as [b:When You Trap a Tiger|44901877|When You Trap a Tiger|Tae Keller|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1561618498l/44901877._SY75_.jpg|69558825]. but, I LOVED When you Trap a Tiger. And also I still definitely ugly cried at this and I think the specific middle school girl dynamics it captures are so true and so important, both in fairly universal ways as well as calling out specific anti-Asian microaggressions.

But I'm knocking off a star for pacing/structure because I think the extremely delayed reveal of The Incident was...too much? Too delayed? It was distracting. But still really strong realistic middle grade novel with BIG FEELINGS.