Uniquely wired, Lena Lennox carries her worries around like an extra backpack. So, when the counsellor at Cranberry Bog Middle School selects seven students for a pilot program to test the concept of mindful meditation, Lena is among those invited to set aside their anxious thoughts.
As the plot unfolds in Betsy Uhrig’s novel for middle grade readers, Mind Over Monsters, the seven, who “look like someone’s attempt at a diversity ad” (21), discover some up sides to the app as well as some mysteries. The first mystery surfaces when pieces of “weirdly cold” junk remain after a meditation period in the Facing One’s Fears part of the program. Curious about this left behind trash, Lena saves the junk in a jar, testing it for various properties and trying to determine why it won’t warm using conventional methods. A sixth grader among the seven, Owen Llewellyn’s answer is that the trash is from another dimension. And when vibrating blobs and other creatures come to life, Sam Shah declares “This is some science-fiction-level weirdness going on here” (108).
Whether these interdimensional creatures are their fears come to life or not, the tweens are determined to stop the school from putting the app out for the entire student body.
In addition to providing some useful strategies for coping with fears and quieting one’s anxiety in the face of illogic, Uhrig also confronts some key middle school issues: friendship and puberty challenges. Lena’s best friend is Gina. Because she wants to be a reporter someday, Gina is “dead serious about facts, evidence, and grammar” (47). But seventh grade changes her. Regina has not only altered her name but has “gone pretty.” Lena wonders if “going pretty had affected more than Regina’s exterior. Maybe she was undergoing some type of brain metamorphosis as well” (47). Maybe Regina will leave Lena behind in favor of other friends.
Readers will likely find multiple points of relevance in this book crafted with relatable characters.
- Donna