When best friends Tai and Mila are reunited after a summer apart, their friendship threatens to combust from the pressure of secrets, middle school, and the looming dance auditions for a new talented-and-gifted program. A memorably raw story about a complex friendship between two very different African American girls. For fans of Jason Reynolds’s Ghost and Rebecca Stead’s Goodbye Stranger.

Jamila Phillips and Tai Johnson have been inseparable since they were toddlers. In Pirate’s Cove—a low-income housing project—Mila’s single father does everything he can to support his kids and his community. Tai lives across the street with her grandmother, who is the only family she needs. As summer comes to a close, Tai can’t wait for Mila to return from spending a month with her aunt in the suburbs. But both girls are grappling with secrets, and Mila is different when she returns, seeming to put all her energy toward the upcoming dance auditions for the new talented-and-gifted program.

Paula Chase’s middle grade debut is driven by universal themes of friendship and budding romance, while also exploring complex issues that affect many young teens. Full of ballet, basketball, family, and daily life in Pirate’s Cove, Paula Chase’s memorable novel is perfect for fans of Ali Benjamin’s The Thing About Jellyfish and Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich’s and Audrey Vernick’s Two Naomis.