Jawbreaker by Christina Wyman (review)

Reviewed by: Jawbreaker by Christina Wyman Amanda Toledo Wyman, Christina Jawbreaker. Farrar, 2023 [320p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780374389697 $17.99 Paper ed. ISBN 9781250331021 $9.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780374389703 $9.99 Reviewed from digital galleys Ad Gr. 5-8 Max Plink, seventh grade Op-Ed writer for the student newspaper and connoisseur of snarky t-shirts, doesn't just need braces; with a maxillofacial deformity (a severe overbite), she has to wear a mouth brace at home in the hopes of avoiding jaw surgery someday, and her bullies never miss an opportunity to make fun of her. The situation is awful, compounded by her parents' financial struggles, her mother's anger, and her father's poorly hidden drinking, and now Max's younger sister Alexis has joined the bullies in their cruel taunts. Trying to juggle the weight of all these stressors, she adds one more: entering the city-wide journalism contest for kids, focusing her video report on braces and bullying. Wyman has made an engaging novel with a realistic rendering of both the well of love but also the bitterness that can fester in families as they go through rough patches. For all the interesting relationships, there is an uneven handling of characters. All the adults, for example vacillate between believably human failings and sudden eloquent speeches on very important topics. As a journalist investigating bullying and jaw surgery, it is also significant that neither Max nor any of the adults in her world suggest that there's nothing wrong with her face as it is, nor explore how biases against facial differences are just as problematic as the bullying. While these shortcomings are notable, this is still an emotionally gripping story about a girl from a struggling working-class family with a story to tell. Copyright © 2023 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois