The Totally True Story of Gracie Byrne
by Shannon Takaoka
High School    Candlewick    384 pp.
10/23    9781536228786    $19.99
e-book ed.  9781536234312    $19.99

It’s 1987, and Gracie is the new girl at her Pittsburgh high school; her family has recently moved in with her grandmother, who has Alzheimer’s. After some embarrassing encounters with her new classmates, Gracie wishes she could be more interesting and less awkward. So when she finds a blank journal in her grandmother’s vanity, she imagines just that, writing a scene in which she is sophisticated and mysterious. Then she discovers that whatever she writes about comes true in real life. The hot guy, wearing the same army jacket she described in the journal, suddenly seems interested in her; the mean girl, after complimenting her outfit, hands her the exact lipstick she wrote about the night before. While Gracie’s newfound power is intoxicating, the journal’s interpretations of her words can be dangerously unpredictable. (After she experiments by writing about her career as a bird photographer, for example, a rare owl shows up at school, causing chaos.) Ultimately, the journal helps Gracie understand that “the things we can’t control, and the broken parts, and the mistakes are all part of what make us who we are.” A charming romance with the boy across the street and the faithfully rendered 1980s setting (think corded telephones, cassette tapes, and midnight showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show) complete this original and absorbing fantastical tale.

From the January/February 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.