Back with Chicken Pox!

Lynn:  Readers, I am back and so sorry for my absence! Life happens and I didn’t eke out time to write. But the books are still here to talk about and I hope to be a regular blogger again.

Do any of you remember having Chicken Pox??? I have vivid itchy memories despite it being years since the event. My sister and I had them during Halloween which was a deeply felt tragedy in our young years. My tightly-knit neighborhood loved Halloween and that was in the time when people could give home-made cookies and popcorn balls and ….! And we had CHICKEN POX and missed it all!

Remi Lai has a different, but similarly miserable, account in her new GN, Chicken Pox (Holt, 2025).

Abby is a 6th grader, oldest of 5, and flat-out sick of being the big sister in her busy “zoo” of a household! It’s bad enough when some misunderstandings cause tensions between Abby and her 2 besties, but then all five Lai kids come down with chickenpox! Abby is quarantined at home with her lively and annoying little brothers and sisters.

Remy Lai brings Abby’s growing pains emotions to vivid life as she struggles to find her own place in the household separate from the role of big sister, deal with friendships that are also changing and start to grow all at once. Funny, heartfelt and so authentic! Hey – I was a big sister too 🙂

Lai also does a nice job of explaining chickenpox, its symptoms, and the progression of the disease. It made me itch just remembering!!