The Best Liars in Riverview

I got The Best Liars in Riverview by Lin Thompson from the "new books" shelf at the library. The book description says, "Aubrey and Joel are like two tomato vines that grew along the same crooked fence: weird, yet the same kind of weird. But lately, even their shared weirdness seems weird. Then Joel disappears. Vanishes. Poof. The whole town is looking for him, and Aubrey was the last person to see Joel. Aubrey can’t say much, but since lies of omission are still lies, here’s what they know for sure: For the last two weeks of the school year, when sixth grade became too much, Aubrey and Joel have been building a raft in the woods. The raft was supposed to be just another part of their running away game. The raft is gone now too. Aubrey doesn’t know where Joel is, but they might know how to find him. As Aubrey, their friend Mari, and sister Teagan search along the river, Aubrey has to fess up to who they really are, all the things they never said, and the word that bully Rudy Thomas used that set all this into motion."

This was a great read. Once I got into it, I wanted to keep reading to see how things were going to turn out. I really liked the well-developed characters (Aubrey, Mari, Joel, Teagan) and was so frustrated by the bully at school and the adults at school's unwillingness to address the issues. The book also addressed issues that kids face when they are LGBTQ+, which I think is important to have in children's literature. This was one of those books where the main character child doesn't tell adults things that I wish they would, so that's always hard for me. (I want my kids to just talk to me when they have problems or need help!)

Rating: * * (2/3 = Liked it)