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When 5th grader Zella’s class prank flops, she’s given a second chance to leave a lasting impact in this middle-grade novel about redemption, friendship, and kindness.A perfect book club pick to inspire discussion, 9–12-year-old fans of Katherine Applegate’s Wishtree will love this hopeful story about the power of connection.It’s the end of 5th grade and Zella wants to be the one who thinks of the best class prank—a long-held tradition that administrators allow, with parameters.In alternating chapters told by Zella, best friends Bowie and Janea, Shelby the school sleuth, and the town of Kettleby, Zella's story reveals her quest to uphold her image as class clown and bask in the spotlight.As a result, she loses sight of what’s going on in the lives of her two best friends and begins to cause more stress for her mom—who manages their family's failing ice cream shop while caring for Pops. Zella doesn’t mean to cause trouble, but being 12 is hard. Everything is changing, and everyone seems so much cooler and better understood.When her prank doesn’t go as planned, the entire class is punished, and Zella is to blame. But when Zella's given a second chance, her small, subtle acts of thoughtfulness begin to grow. It turns out that redemption, friendship, and a remarkable chain of kindness tastes even sweeter than her family's famous raspberry ripple ice cream.With humor and heart, The Ripple Effect's themes of kindness and connection will inspire young readers to even greater compassion and generosity in their own lives.
Publication Year: 2025
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~~Thank you to NetGalley and Charlesbridge for the ARC!~~
Middle grade contemporaries should not be, and feel, this long.
The pacing of the story dragged so much. It took about 250 pages for the prank to actually happen because so much page space was, in my opinion, wasted on repetitive thoughts and POVs from to many side characters. With the latter problem, I do understand why Caprara chose to include them, because they show what these kids and adults were going through and how Zella's actions directly impacted them, but I feel like this could have been accomplished if the POV had just stayed in Zella's head.
Other than that, the story as a whole was fine. Again, kids talking about social media, about likes, followers, and algorithms, will never not be weird to me (Especially if a certain ban goes through in the States and instantly ages any mentions and plots revolving around TikTok), but the story is still very grounded and relatable through themes of dementia, divorce, identity, and so on.
I can only hope the kids this book is intended for will enjoy it, because I'm disappointed I didn't.
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