charlotte illes is not a teacher: a+

as a huge fan of charlotte illes is not a detective, charlotte illes is not a teacher did not disappoint. i laughed. i cried. i thought about how grateful i am for teachers.

after the events of book one, charlotte has leaned into detectiving and has also been hired as a substitute teacher at her old middle school. being in her old stomping grounds brings up a bunch of memories and feelings, especially with some of the staff from her youth still working at the school. as a middle schooler, charlotte—who went by lottie back in the day—stirred up some trouble as she solved mysteries.

and on her first day as a sub, she ends up with a new mystery to solve. one of the teachers and her school board president aunt have been getting threatening texts and letters, and the teacher wants charlotte’s help. at the same time, there’s an adorable b story with some of the kids her bff lucy teaches. a teacher’s bobblehead goes missing and because they’re all fans of the lottie illes stories lucy tells them, they decide to take on the mystery themselves. 

i loved watching charlotte interact with the kids. she tells them how to get into the vents and then later realizes that as a teacher she uh probably shouldn’t be doing that. gabe, her other best friend, comes to talk to the kids about internet safety and gets really emotional about the group of queer kids and how accepting the school is of queerness, and his emotional moment made me cry. 

similar to book one, this is a very millennial/gen z book full of feelings, sarcasm, and queerness. the mystery moves the book along while the characters and their growth and emotions keep you reading. the cast of characters is very queer and not very white, and because i haven’t been recommending as many books by white people lately i do want to note that katie has been posting about a free palestine; i’m trying not to promote white people who haven’t. 

charlotte illes is not a teacher comes out july 23rd. thank you kensington books for the advanced copy!

photo review here: https://www.instagram.com/p/C535Evav6Uj/?igsh=MWQ1ZGUxMzBkMA==