Just Watch Me!

August 15, 2020
A class livestreaming assignment creates both humiliations and new friendships for 12-year-old Simon. For Grade 7 technology class, Simon's required to do a livestream on a shared platform. Students who create "engaging content"--that is, those students who get lots of likes and comments by their classmates--will get the better grades. Simon, who is White, wants an A, as his constantly fighting parents have promised as a reward for good grades to take him to the Canadian Video Game Championships; he secretly hopes they'll reconcile on the trip. His best friend, Jocelyn, who is Filipina, wants to get an A in order to be allowed to continue her mixed martial arts training. It feels to Simon as though his plans to create engaging content are cursed. In a series of accidental livestreams (of increasingly dubious probability), Simon streams his dog playing with his mother's underwear, a mortifying toilet incident, pet mouth-to-mouth, and worse. Weirdly, every video makes Simon more popular thanks to the unintentional comedy. Everything goes awry when Simon's teacher, at the behest of the private company that owns the video app, changes the grading guidelines for the class (inexplicably presented as a normal educational choice). Suddenly, Jocelyn and Simon are no longer allies. And Simon needs allies, for though the school's a "no-bullying zone," the teachers are oblivious to the violent bullies who target Simon--even when they livestream the violence for their own course assignments. Video games and slapstick poop jokes can't salvage this haphazard plot. Insufficiently exaggerated for farce, insufficiently plausible for anything else. (Fiction. 9-11)

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November 1, 2020

Gr 4-6-Twelve-year-old Simon has a lot on his plate. He's a gamer who is good enough to compete in an all-Canadian competition whose finals will be held in Vancouver. He'd love to make it to the finals and bring his parents, hoping a trip to the place where they met could save their marriage and stop their fighting. They have said they would consider the trip if he earns straight A's in seventh grade. He has developed a crush on his BFF, Jocelyn. The two have been friends since she moved to Toronto from the Philippines when they were in third grade. He's also bullied relentlessly by the Mendelsohn twins. Simon is stressing over the project his technology teacher has assigned; it involves livestreamed videos that are uploaded to a private channel. Grading is based on originality and numbers of likes by classmates. This project is unrealistic enough to make any teacher cringe and fear for their job, but it might be up TikTok-obsessed readers' alley. Simon is an appealing narrator. His videos are humorously disastrous, yet ironically popular among his classmates. Jocelyn is a well-drawn, passionate friend. Unfortunately, most of the adults and the twins veer toward one-dimensional stereotypes. VERDICT Though Simon reads a bit young as a seventh grader, he's relatable, and the breezy, sometimes slapstick humor will appeal to reluctant readers.-Brenda Kahn, Tenakill M.S., Closter, NJ

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