Unstuck

Lyla is struggling in 7th grade; her best friend from elementary school, Rania, attends Dickinson Middle School, while Lyla attends Whitman. Lyla still hasn't found a new friend, but does eat lunch every day with Journey, a quirky girl who is very interested in animals and a bit less interested in Lyla's concerns. Lyla's older sister, Dahlia, is a senior in high school, and struggling with writing her college application essays, which causes a lot of friction between her sister and her parents. This also causes Lyla to feel that her parents don't really care about her. For her language arts class, her favorite teacher, Ms. Bowman, is having the students do whatever creative writing makes them happy, and this is a bright spot in Lyla's world because she has a fascinating and complicated fantasy novel she is working on. She has the most amazing first sentence, character studies, names, and even maps... but she can't get beyond that first sentence. She envies others in her class, like Stella, who seems to churn out writing effortlessly. She becomes very stressed with the whole process, especially since she wants to enter-- and win!-- a local writing contest that Dahlia had done well in when she was in middle school. Not only that, but she feels disconnected from Raina. When the two finally plan a sleepoever, Lyla is disappointed that some of Raina's new friends from the track team at her school are also there. Lyla really wants to discuss her story with Raina to help figure out the direction she should take, but when she talks about it briefly, she comes across as bragging, since Raina's new friends make her feel less accomplished. The tensions at home increase, and Dahlia confides in her that she doesn't want to go to college right away, but is afraid to tell her parents. Not only that, but she is failing some of her courses! She begs Lyla not to tell, which puts her in a difficult position. When Lyla finds out that Raina's new friends bullied Journey so much that her parents pulled her out of school and homeschooled her, Lyla wants to confront her old friend, but isn't sure quite how to approach the topic, especially since the two rarely talk. As her stress levels rise, Ms. Bowman tries to help, having the whole class do free writing, letting Lyla go to the library for a change of scenery, and letting her know that all writers occasionally struggle and that Lyla should be kind to herself and "write her feelings". This helps, and Lyla begins to work on her story, using it as a way to process her emotions about what is going on in her life. Dee includes 25 tips for writers at the end of the book.