Don't Vote for Me

Gr 4–6—Krista Van Dolzer's second novel, hot on the heels of her The Sound of Life and Everything, (Penguin, 2015) revisits the well-worn school election trope through the eyes of David, a goofy class-clown type and budding trumpet player who decides to run for president against Veronica Pritchard-Pratt, the most popular (and presidential) girl in school. The biggest obstacle in making this fluffy middle-grade novel stick is that Van Dolzer's characters feel like the types on which they're based, and this town, with its school full of band geeks and "populars," could really be anywhere in the U.S. (and probably any time in the past 15 years.) A duet for the school recital goes a long way toward helping naive David and uptight Veronica open up to each other, and the author manages to twist her archetypes just enough to make Veronica's family issues and David's maturation genuinely sweet, bringing out unexpected depth in her lighthearted writing style. Most of the surprises come from her funny characterizations, not the development of the story—still, readers looking for realistic middle-grade fiction will find David a likable guide in a balanced lesson about ceding the spotlight.