Don’t Stand So Close to Me

Volume XXVII / Issue 12 - November 20 / 2020
Don't Stand So Close to Me
Don't Stand So Close to Me
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Don’t Stand So Close to Me

Author: 
Eric Walters
Victoria, BC: Orca, 2020
116 pp., trade pbk., pdf & epub $10.95 (pbk.)
ISBN: 
9781459827875 (pbk.)
9781459827882 (pdf)
9781459827899 (epub)
Grades: 
Grades 4-7
Ages: 
Ages 9-12
Review by: 
Christina Pike
4
Excerpt: 

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Reynolds,” Isaac sang out. “Always a pleasure to see you.”

“Mrs. Reynolds narrowed her eyes, and Isaac dropped his to his desk. Isaac’s mother was the police chief in our town, but she was nowhere near as scary as Mrs. Reynolds.

“Miss Fernandez, may I speak to you for a moment?” she asked.

Miss Fernandez stood up, and they both went into the hall.

“What do you think that’s about?” Reese asked.

“Miss Fernandez is in trouble,” Isaac said. “I know that look!”

“I highly doubt that, Isaac,” I replied. Geez, the guy would say anything for a laugh.

But when Miss Fernandez came back into the room, she did look like she had gotten into trouble.

“That seemed serious,” Isaac commented.

“It was. It is.”

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Mrs. Reynolds is calling an assembly so everyone can hear the details. But I can tell you that it involves spring break.”
“It better not be canceled!” Isaac exclaimed.

Miss Fernandez looked a bit uncomfortable when she replied. “No, it’s not canceled,” she said.

What the heck was going on?

Eric Walters’ Don’t Stand So Close to Me details from a student perspective what COVID 19 meant for a class of 13-year-olds, their families and community. It is written at the onset of the virus. As Quinn and her classmates are sent home for what begins as a two-week extended spring break, readers are brought into how first this situation is seen as exciting and then, as more is known, feared. Many perspectives are highlighted as student voices are heard from Quinn and her friends, Isaac and Reese, Quinn’s father who is an ER doctor, and Isaac’s mother who is chief of police.

Don’t Stand So Close to Me is timely as the world continues to live with what is often called “the new normal”. As the virus continues to spread, this novel reminds its readers of what mid-March meant to each of us. Walters has brought us all back to the beginning of the pandemic when the world was faced with so many unknowns. In his characters, he has represented many voices. The book’s contents also bring us to what is truly important – community and trying to bring everyone together.

Don’t Stand So Close to Me is an important read.

Highly Recommended
Reviewer: 

Christina Pike is the Principal of Macdonald Drive Junior High in St. John’s, Newfoundland.