When You're Brave Enough - Hardcover

Bendheim, Rebecca

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0593695135 ISBN 13: 9780593695135

Verlag: Viking Books for Young Readers, 2026

Inhaltsangabe

A heartfelt, gorgeously written debut middle grade novel about best friends, first crushes, and coming out—perfect for fans of Kyle Lukoff and Jake Maia Arlow.

Before she moved from Austin to Rhode Island, everybody knew Lacey as one half of an inseparable duo: Lacey-and-Grace, best friends since they were toddlers. Grace and her moms were practically family. But at school, being lumped together with overeager, worm-obsessed, crushes-on-everyone Grace meant Lacey never quite fit in—and that’s why at her new middle school, Lacey plans to reinvent herself. This time, she’s going to be cool. She’s going to be normal.

At first, everything seems to go as planned. Lacey makes new friends right away, she finds a rabbi to help her prepare for the bat mitzvah that got deprioritized by her parents in the chaos of the move, and she even gets cast in the lead role of the eighth-grade musical. Which is when things start to get stressful, because it turns out the students at her new school have a long-standing, unofficial tradition: No matter what the show is, in the final performance, the leads always kiss for real.

Lacey’s never kissed anyone before—she’s not even sure she’s ever had a crush. And in Bye, Bye, Birdie, there are a few different co-lead kiss possibilities for Lacey to choose from. There’s confident, cocky Andre. There’s sweet, friendly Jaden. And then there’s the other new girl at school: dryly funny, impossibly cool Violet.

But while her new friends and older sister create whiteboard wall charts and botched field trip schemes to help her decide, suddenly Lacey can’t stop thinking about Grace, who she was so sure she wanted to leave behind. When Grace comes back into her life, Lacey needs to decide if she's brave enough to be who she really is, in front of the person who matters most.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Rebecca Bendheim is a middle school teacher, poet, and graduate of Vanderbilt and VCFA’s MFA program in writing for children and young adults, where she wrote her critical thesis on queer middle grade and was mentored by Corey Ann Haydu. She has performed her poetry at Lambda Litfest, on NPR, and as a member of Austin's Typewriter Rodeo poetry troupe. Rebecca can be found on social media @RebeccaBendheim.

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The Last Day of Seventh Grade

I jump away from Grace like she’s a frying pan on fire.
I want to say, It’s not what you think. Or Mack, can you freaking knock for once? But my voice is peanut butter in my throat. It’s been like this all day. The last day of seventh grade. The day I have to tell her.
“Ah, sorry,” Mack says, and steps back into the hallway, her dark bangs falling over her eyes. “I thought you had my phone charger.”
I do have it, I think. In my backpack. But Mack doesn’t wait to see. She pulls the door shut, and we’re alone again.
Grace scoots closer to me. Her eyebrows knit together, making her tortoiseshell glasses slip down her nose. She pushes them back up. There’s a thin line of dirt under each of her fingernails.
“Lacey, ­I—­” she starts.
“Wait.”
Stones skip across my chest. Whatever she’s going to say, it won’t matter after I tell her. Nothing here in Austin will matter, not whatever Mack saw or the time our bacon pan caught fire because Grace got distracted by a butterfly or how my fingernails used to have dirt underneath them too. I asked Mack for nail polish last Hanukkah, around the time it was official. I should have told Grace right then.
Say it, I beg myself. Our theater director used to say the first word or note is always the hardest. Once you say it, the rest will fall like dominoes. But Grace’s eyes are glassy and wide, like she thinks I’m going to say something good. We’re sitting on the yellow rug I’ve had since I was a baby. Dad said it was too ragged to give away. I could either keep it or trash it. I didn’t think twice, ordering a new pink, shaggy one yesterday. But it hurts now, seeing them ­together—​­Grace and my yellow rug. Knowing how different things will be once ­I . . .
Say it.
I breathe in. The words fall out: “We’re moving to Rhode Island. We leave in August.”
My news sits like a heavy storm cloud. Grace doesn’t say anything. Her expression doesn’t change. She stays perfectly still.
“My dad got a job as head baker at this place called the Nosh Café,” I say, to fill the silence. “My new school is called Brook Street Middle, and ­look—­” I pull up the school’s website and put my phone in her hand. The home page has a picture of a theater with thick, red curtains and semicircle seats. “The reviews say it’s an unofficial theater magnet school.”
Grace scrolls down, her thumb unsteady. She reads the afterschool activities out loud. “Eighth-Grade Musical. Costume Design. One-Act Play. Co‑­Ed Soccer.” She smiles a shaky, don’t cry smile. “No football team?”
“Nope.” I have the website practically memorized.
“That’s amazing!” Grace says, her voice steadying. “Instead of wearing jerseys to school on game days, people will be wearing costumes. And instead of every social studies teacher being a football coach, they’ll be, like, playwrights! I wish I could come with you.” Grace sounds like her normal, ­hundred-​­miles-​­per-​­hour self. But her eyes are sad.
“I wish you could come too,” I say.
She scoots over and hugs me so tight I stop breathing for a second. And for the first time, it feels real. Me, going to Brook Street Middle. Grace being two thousand miles away.
I can’t say this. I shouldn’t even think it. When you’re thirteen you’re supposed to scream and slam doors when your parents force you to move, especially if you’ve had the same best friend since you were two months old. But if I had a choice, I’d go. And I think I’d go on my own.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Viking Books for Young Readers
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2026
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0593695135
• ISBN 13: 9780593695135
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 304
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: VIKING; https://www.penguin.com/overview-vikingbooks/; ; Attn: Andrea T Sheridan 1745 BROADWAY; New York; NY; 10019; USA
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