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You Go First

Erin Entrada Kelly (Goodreads Author)

3.81 · Rating details · 4,861 ratings · 726 reviews

Funny and poignant, You Go First by 2018 Newbery Medalist Erin Entrada Kelly is an engaging exploration of family, spelling, art, bullying, and the ever-complicated world of middle school friendships. Erin Entrada Kelly’s perfectly pitched tween voice will resonate with fans of Kate DiCamillo’s Raymie Nightingale and Thanhha Lai’s Inside Out and Back Again.

Twelve-year-old ...more

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Hardcover, 288 pages

Published April 10th 2018 by Greenwillow Books

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Average rating 3.81 ·

Rating details

· 4,861 ratings · 726 reviews

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Feb 20, 2019 Rachel Reads Ravenously rated it liked it

Shelves: hardcover, library-checkout, middle-grade-or-childrens, 3-stars-aint-the-devil

3.5 stars

I picked up You Go First because this author won the newbery last year and I was curious about her work. Also this was up for the middle grade goodreads choice awards last year as well. Honestly, while I enjoyed this book for the most part, it fell a bit flat. I never felt Ben or Charlotte connected at all despite being the main characters. They both had issues at school that felt very much unresolved at the end. I was left feeling... unsatisfied. And that's not a good thing.

Follow me ...more

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Jun 12, 2018 Danielle rated it it was amazing

Shelves: middle-grade-ya

Erin Entrada Kelly is a masterful writer with succinct pacing, inventive ways into a story, and wonderful multi-character voice. Plus, she has such a gift for giving voice and life to characters who feel isolated yet yearn to connect and, lucky for readers, eventually do.

"Someday, I'll be digging for specimens in Egyptian pyramids and none of this will matter." ...more

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May 10, 2018 Eva rated it it was ok

I had such high expectations for this book, because I've really loved her previous books, but this one just - fell short of the mark. Charlotte and Ben never really connected with each other, preferring to share trivialities instead of actual meaningful interactions like the premise suggests. I liked that they each made friends outside of each other but the implication that Charlotte and Ben would drift apart now that they had 'real' friends was one I didn't appreciate. As someone who has formed ...more

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Feb 27, 2019 Josiah rated it it was ok

Only months after winning the 2018 Newbery Medal for Hello, Universe, Erin Entrada Kelly released You Go First, another sensitively woven tale of friendship and destiny. Twelve-year-old Charlotte Lockard and eleven-year-old Ben Boxer live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Lanester, Louisiana, respectively, but are friends via the online version of Scrabble they play. They both come from parents who prioritize education and having a curious outlook on the world, and while this leads Charlotte and Only months after winning the 2018 Newbery Medal for Hello, Universe, Erin Entrada Kelly released You Go First, another sensitively woven tale of friendship and destiny. Twelve-year-old Charlotte Lockard and eleven-year-old Ben Boxer live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Lanester, Louisiana, respectively, but are friends via the online version of Scrabble they play. They both come from parents who prioritize education and having a curious outlook on the world, and while this leads Charlotte and Ben to be hyperintelligent, they don't fit in with other kids. As You Go First gets underway, Charlotte's father suffers a heart attack and lands in the hospital's intensive care unit, and Ben's parents announce their intention to divorce. Life just took a wrong turn for these two young misfits.

Charlotte goes to the hospital with her mother, but can't bring herself to visit her father's room. She thinks back to her recent lack of interest in spending time with him as she and her friend Bridget close in on adolescence. Charlotte used to love playing Scrabble with her father, but word games hold less appeal now that Bridget prefers talking about cute guys and hanging out with her artist friends. Charlotte is more about facts and figures than abstract creative expression; her dad is the one who can opine on Van Gogh and Seurat. Charlotte senses her friendship with Bridget slipping away even as she tries to hold on; Charlotte doesn't have many friends, and losing Bridget would hurt a lot. Is there any persuading someone to stay whose heart has already moved on?

"If you don't see anything beautiful, change your viewpoint".

—Magda Rivera, You Go First, P. 185

In light of the news about his parents' divorce, Ben retreats from family life. His mom and dad harbor no ill will toward each other and volunteer to answer anything Ben asks, but he has no idea what to say. Most of his anger is at his father, whom he intuitively assigns the majority of blame, but Ben isn't the confrontational type. He's a short, quiet kid whose school life is worse than Charlotte's, but at least he has her as his online Scrabble friend. For the first time, Ben calls Charlotte on the phone rather than just texting as part of Scrabble play, and every night they have a short conversation, awkward at first but improving as they get used to it. These talks convince Ben on the spur of the moment to run for student council, but how can a kid convince other sixth-graders to vote for him who barely know he exists? For some reason that not even Ben could articulate, the election is important to him. He puts all his energy into campaigning, rebuffing his father's offers to help; Ben doesn't need his advice or encouragement. Both Charlotte and Ben are unmoored, smart but unhappy, mostly friendless as the years of their school careers drift by. It might take a dramatic shared moment to change the course they're on...but change rarely acts precisely as we wish it would.

"Charlotte's father once said that everyone had a 'someday'—a fuzzy time in the future when life would go just as it should, every dream would come true, and things would clip along at a perfect pace. It's what got people through tough times, Mr. Lockard said." When you're struggling, it's hard to see how the current "you" could evolve into the confident, competent person you hope to become. But just because you don't see the path doesn't mean you don't plan on it happening, so you look to the future in faith that time will change you for the better. Friends increase and dwindle, the faces changing as you change, but life marches forward, and success is measured by how you adjust when awful things occur that you see no way to overcome: heart attacks, broken relationships, public humiliation. Continue toward your "someday", doing everything you can to become the person you aspire to be, and the rest will align. The road is rocky and rutted, but those miles must go on the odometer in order to reach your destination.

You Go First isn't my favorite of Erin Entrada Kelly's first four novels (that would easily be Blackbird Fly, her debut), but I prefer it to Hello, Universe, and would put it on equal footing with The Land of Forgotten Girls. Charlotte and Ben are intelligent and well-spoken to the extreme, but at least their family backgrounds account for that to some degree. The story isn't as well-organized or impactful as Blackbird Fly, but the ending is poignant, and part of me wants to consider rating this book two and a half stars. I like Erin Entrada Kelly's storytelling tone, and You Go First has characters I loved spending time with, particularly Ben. It wouldn't be a bad idea to reflect further on this book. ...more

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Jan 12, 2021 Jessica Woodbury rated it really liked it

Shelves: authors-of-color, read-aloud

This is very subtle for a middle grade book, so may not be the best pick for more literal kids. Both of our main kids, Charlotte and Ben, have two problems. One at home, and one at school. The book spends the vast majority of time on the school problem, when it was obvious to me that the kids' focus on the school problems was really a way of avoiding their home problems. Yet this is never really spelled out, in fact, I bet a lot of kids would forget that Charlotte's dad is literally in the hospi ...more

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Nov 16, 2017 Kate Olson rated it really liked it

Shelves: middle-grade, advanced-reader-copies

Thanks to the Kid Lit Exchange network for the review copy of this book - all opinions are my own.

This is a quiet book about the power of connections when you are feeling alone - just having ONE person to connect with can be life saving and life changing. Charlotte and Ben are both struggling with friendships and family and their online Scrabble game is what brings them together - I love that Ben picks up the phone to call her to break the cycle of only connecting on screens rather than verbally ...more

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May 01, 2018 Abby Johnson rated it it was amazing

Shelves: author-of-color, 4th_grade, 6th_grade, contemporary, 5th_grade

Ahhh this book got me in the feels! Erin Entrada Kelly is a master of that particular ache that middle school brings. These amazing characters will stick with you. Hand this one to kids also feeling the ache of middle school or readers who live for character-driven stories (like meeee).

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Jan 18, 2018 Richie Partington rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, box7

Richie’s Picks: YOU GO FIRST by Erin Entrada Kelly, Greenwillow, April 2018, 304p., ISBN: 978-0-06-241-418-2

“A gas” -- 1960s slang for having a lot of fun

“Ain’t it good to know that you’ve got a friend
When people can be so cold?
They’ll hurt you and desert you”
--Carole King” (1971)

“Charlotte wasn’t sure what happened, but suddenly there were other things to do. There was too much to worry about. Middle school infected her life like a virus. She started hiding her dolls, even though she still want ...more

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Oct 10, 2018 Karis rated it liked it

Shelves: friendships, childrens, contemporary, 2018-releases

Another review for me to type up with mixed feelings. I don’t typically read juvenile general fiction, but I do have a few favorite authors I love in the genre and was intrigued the premise of You Go First, so I gave this one a shot. I think this author didn’t lose me with her writing style, but rather with the characters, added subtle agendas, and slightly forced feel to some of the important events in the book.

The book is about two friends, well friends in the fact that they are friendly Scrab Another review for me to type up with mixed feelings. I don’t typically read juvenile general fiction, but I do have a few favorite authors I love in the genre and was intrigued the premise of You Go First, so I gave this one a shot. I think this author didn’t lose me with her writing style, but rather with the characters, added subtle agendas, and slightly forced feel to some of the important events in the book.

The book is about two friends, well friends in the fact that they are friendly Scrabble rivals online and occasionally text each other, two middle schoolers with lives that though miles apart are quite similar. With its line “One friend can make all the difference,” the cover led me to believe the book would be focused around the two Scramble rivals, Ben and Charlotte, being friends to each other in difficult times. But both erected a façade-like front to each other that effectively closed off any real friendship or comfort they could have been to each other, causing the book to read as two separate stories not dependent of each other plot-wise.

And such was the standard for all communication coming from Ben and Charlotte in this book between the two or with their parents—closed off and unwilling to share anything real—which was never corrected. Disconcerting for a book written for children, eh? I feel as if you grow when you admit to others how you feel and not bottle it all up inside of you; what’s innocent enough as a kid can develop into a habit that has destructive consequences as an adult. Problems don’t go away because you don’t talk about them.

The two kids being gifted and unusually intelligent school-wise was interesting, and the random tidbits thrown out were definitely appealing to me as the facts geek that I can be, but it lost some of its impact by not seeming to have a purpose in moving along or adding to the plot. I would have loved to have seen their nerdy side and select hobbies have more of an impact than a momentary analogy.

I loved Ben’s courage and optimism in pursuing his seat on his school council! And the jokes he had planned for his big speech. Aww… such a cutie. But I was a little unsettled by some of his thoughts about evolution, especially how the author used it to almost normalize and justify divorce, and conversations about saving the environment, which I couldn’t help but see as agendas being spouted to brainwash kids into a certain mold of thinking. I don’t like seeing sweet characters like Ben being used as a tool of the author in that way.

But the book did have lessons both sweet and profound. Appreciating and taking time for the people we love because we truly aren’t promised tomorrow with them. Being courageous and facing your fears. Looking beyond the labels put on people to the heart. Not forgetting how precious the open and simple things in life are and not letting them seem childish.

So, hmm… a neat premise and with beautiful themes—but it missed the mark for me.
...more

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Mar 01, 2019 Ms. Jackson rated it liked it

A possible theme for this book is that it is important to connect with people. Ben and Charlotte, the two protagonists, have never met, but they've played online Scrabble together for a couple of years. After something big happens in Ben's life, he decides to reach out and call Charlotte. The two start talking and in the end this becomes very important to the story. ...more

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Oct 21, 2020 Lata rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: bipoc-author, x2020-tbr-cleanup, auth-f, x2020-read

3.5 stars. School’s tough. Especially if your best friend suddenly decides that you’re just a gigantic pain in the ass that she needs to drop from her life because you’re both changing and your curiosity, intelligence and interests no longer interest her. Or, you’re really smart, bad at reading people, and are steadily bullied.
The two kids in this story have a connection through Scrabble, though, interestingly, don’t actually confess the pain they’re experiencing in their lives to one another, w ...more

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Feb 27, 2018 Sarah rated it really liked it

Shelves: children-s-school-age

Over the course of six days two preteens engaged in an online Scrabble game both undergo major life changes. Both Charlotte and Ben are sans friends IRL (that's in real life for the uninitiated.) Both are bright and inquisitive youngsters, sticking out like sore thumbs in a land populated by homogenous middle schoolers. Alternating chapters focus on the scenarios in each child's life.
Charlotte's father has been hospitalized following a heart attack. Her once best friend now thinks of her as a p ...more

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Jun 22, 2018 Abby rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobooks, middle-grade, 2018-reading, friendship-is-the-best-ship

Charlotte made a promise to herself then and there: If I ever see someone fall, I'll ask if they're okay.

This had so much potential to be a new favorite. It just missed that mark for me. But it dealt with so much in such a nice way. Bullying, online friendships, divorce, health failures, so, so much.

I really came to care for Charlotte and Ben. They didn't seem relatable until suddenly something clicked and I saw myself in them. I don't know what that moment was or what changed, but it was a p ...more

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Oct 02, 2017 Laura Gardner rated it it was amazing

4.5/5 for You Go First! Thx to @erinentrada for sharing this ARC with me. It doesn't come out until April, 2018! I am sharing my copy with the @kidlitexchange network. All opinions are my own.
_*_*_*_*_*

Charlotte and Ben are online scrabble buddies; Charlotte lives near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Ben lives in a small town in Louisiana. Both are gifted students who struggle to make friends and both are having family problems at home. Charlotte's father has had a heart attack and she can't brin ...more

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Jun 16, 2018 Jordan Henrichs rated it really liked it

You Go First is similarly structured to Hello, Universe (Kelly's Newbery Medal winner) and I think coming fresh off the heels of that title, this one seems to be underwhelming people. I rather liked it though. Yes, it reads like Hello, Universe with two different characters alternating chapters, but on a much smaller scale. And I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing that the two are similar. Hello, Universe feels bigger, more important. You Go First feels more normal and everyday. When you m ...more

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Jul 10, 2018 Alicia rated it really liked it

Shelves: middle-grade, family, male, female, multiple-povs

I'm always down for a perfectly plotted middle grade even when they are sometimes a little pat, but that's okay, because we all need hope in the world and Entrada Kelly superbly navigates the tween traumas of friendship and belonging.

Ben (is on the spectrum) and is an intelligent eleven year old who was just told his parents are splitting up, so he decides to run for school officer. Charlotte wants to be someone other than Charlotte, imagining a girl like who she is playing Scrabble with Ben, L ...more

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Jun 10, 2018 Jean-Marie rated it really liked it

Shelves: middle-grade, realistic-fiction

I think this is the first middle grade book I've read that features an online-only friendship. That alone makes it unique, especially when adolescent social media is portrayed so negatively. The book dealt with other important themes as well - friendships, bullying, divorce, families. My only complaint is that the story felt a little slow. ...more

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Jul 31, 2018 Darla rated it it was amazing

This book has so much potential to help struggling middle school students. For kids like Charlotte and Ben, it can feel like they have been left behind. Like the rug has been pulled out from under them and they are in a foreign country. You Go First deals with bullying, illness in the family, divorce, friendship and so much more. I heartily recommend it as a read aloud.

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Feb 05, 2018 Patrick rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2018-middle-grade-novels

Charlotte’s dad has a heart attack. Ben’s parents are divorcing. Charlotte may lose her best friend. Ben may run for student council. How does an online scrabble game connect them? Read to find out!

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Mar 27, 2019 Kelly added it

Shelves: read-in-2019

This book hit me in the heart hard. Charlotte and Ben know each other only through their online Scrabble playing -- Charlotte, aka Lottie, absolutely destroys Ben at the game, but they love to keep their games going. Charlotte's dealing with a lot at home. Her parents are older, which is something she's always felt weird about, and when her father has a heart attack, she finds herself spiraling into worry, into fear, and deeply into herself. More, she's dealing with a former best friend who is m ...more

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May 28, 2022 Elizabeth rated it really liked it

A great look into middle school and all of the changes that come with it for friendships and self awareness. Ben and Charlotte both have much occurring in their lives but as find a common ground through Scrabble. I also enjoyed the rabbit hole descriptions and factoids throughout the book!

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Aug 18, 2018 Clare Lund rated it it was amazing

12-year-old Charlotte Lockhard lives in the suburbs of Philadelphia, and feels herself growing apart from her childhood best friend Bridget, just as Charlotte's dad suffers a serious heart attack. 11-year-old Ben Boxer lives in small town Louisiana, where he dreams of becoming class president, but right now his biggest challenge is just finding someone to sit with at lunch who loves Harry Potter as much as he does. The two live more than a thousand miles apart, but develop an unlikely friendship ...more

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May 01, 2018 Leonard Kim rated it it was ok

Shelves: newbery-eligible-2018

My reaction was more like 1.5 stars but I listened to the audiobook and not really caring for the narration played into my reaction, so I am giving some benefit of the doubt that this might work better on the page. I thought this was too essentially similar to Hello Universe and yet also more dependent on cliches than that book. Also as I suggested in my review of Snow Lane, I really think Kelly doesn’t do right by a certain character type in her portrayals of Ben and Charlotte.

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Jun 05, 2018 Rachel rated it really liked it

So sweet! Charlotte and Ben are so adorably dorky (and honestly pretty relatable) I loved them so much. This book perfectly captures middle school and all its ups and downs; bullies, relationship with your parents, growing apart with old friends and gaining new friends. Reading this made the 12 year old me feel much less alone. Also I can honestly say I got a nice science and vocabulary lesson from all the rabbit holes. 😆 Loved it!

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Mar 10, 2022 Luz rated it really liked it

Shelves: a-marzo2022

This book shows the struggles of two middle schoolers and their friendship through hard times. Charlotte's dad had a heart attack, and she is afraid to see him. Ben's parents are getting divorced, and he doesn't know why. Their lives are connected only through an online Scrabble game, but they become friends in the process. Both kids help each other through being rejected by other people. ...more

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Apr 20, 2018 Wendy MacKnight rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2018-read

Truly a magical book! The story of online scrabble buddies Charlotte and Ben, who are each going through friend and family issues is simply brilliant storytelling at its best. I couldn't put it down. A classic.
...more

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Apr 22, 2018 Jill Farr rated it it was amazing

“One friend can make all the difference.” 💙💙

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May 06, 2018 Amanda Williams rated it it was amazing

Tugs at the heart!

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Sep 15, 2018 Amy rated it it was amazing

Great story with complex characters. Very realistic.

I definitely want to read more from this author.

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Jul 25, 2021 Brandy Painter rated it really liked it

Shelves: contemporary-fiction, middle-grade

I enjoyed the back of forth point of view and the connection of two kids who needed someone. It was interesting how Kelly made them not quite honest with each other because, yes, they're kids but also because isn't that what all of us to when given the opportunity to introduce ourselves to a stranger we'll never meet. It's a space to become who we really want to be.

Anyway, I know I'm late to this one and behind on her books in general, but Erin Entrada Kelly is a gift to MG. Everyone should read ...more

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