Chirp, middle grade life & mystery, with a side dose of serious

Chirp is from author Kate Messner. She’s someone who your middle school student knows, who is probably chastising you for not buying this book or getting it from the library yet. For us, Chirp is a great representation of why middle school audiences love Messner’s books. They look at the life of an early teenager from a fun angle, but also address some of the serious things that might be going on in their life.

In Chirp we meet Mia, an approximately 12 year-old girl who has just move to Vermont with her mom. It comes with the usual struggles that a tween would have in moving to a new place, like new friends, getting into the right summer camp, as well as just goofing around and having fun. Mia’s grandmother has a cricket farm there and things have not been going well for her. There were small electrical issues or other problems that have endangered her stock of crunchy insects that double as a taste snack loaded with protein.

Gram had a stroke recently and her judgment might be what it once was. Was she making errors or was there really something nefarious happening when the humans left the cricket farm for the day?

Shortly after starting one of her camps Mia meet Clover, who becomes her go-to accomplice and friend for the summer. She’s attending a Ninja Warrior style camp and an entrepreneur camp, one of them is right up her alley while the other one is a bit of a stretch. Mia used to be very active in gymnastics. That was until something happened that made her abruptly quit the sport. This also harbors a secret that she wishes she would’ve told others, both for her sake and for the purpose of it hopefully not happening again.

The mystery element of the story feels a little Scooby Gang at times, but those middle school readers will be engrossed in the hijinks. I found it to be quite jarring when the other shoe hit about the secret that Mia is keeping. Initially I thought it was out of place. But upon further reflection, it’s not out of place; it’s just something that I’ve never directly experienced. However, many people, especially young girls have experienced some degree of this once they enter hobbies or the workforce.

The way that this is presented in Chirp is deftly handled in a way that’s serious, but doesn’t overpower the book. Chirp manages to be empowering without being too heavy. It shows the story of a young girl who might just save her grandmother’s farm, make some cool new friends and confront something that’s been nagging her for a long time.

Chirp is a book that’s content wise appropriate for upper elementary school readers. Some elementary school libraries might take issue with the unwanted touching that Mia experienced. It’s a subject that they’ll need to learn about, but that will probably happen in middle school. Those middle school libraries have a standing order for multiple copies of Chirp and it’ll be making the rounds to every eighth-grade girl in the school.

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