Review By: Jenna Ballard
Published: 2024
Genre: Realistic fiction
Audience: Middle Grade
Triggers: Social Anxiety, Bullying, Self-Esteem Issues, Mental Health Challenges
Summary: Cecil Hall and his family have just moved from Florida to Massachusetts, near Boston. Cecil is anxious about making friends because he doesn’t know where he’ll fit in. His older sister, Leah, thinks he should befriend the other black kids at his new school, but Cecil isn’t sure how he’d go about doing that. He wants to be known for his comics-making talent, anyway. But the few kids who are impressed by Cecil’s art aren’t always nice to him. When one of his drawings is misused and gets him into serious trouble, can Cecil stand up for himself and figure out who his real friends are?
Review: A story about being the shy new kid at school is nothing groundbreaking. In one way, that is a strength because it is such a common experience and many young readers will likely relate to Cecil’s feelings about moving to a new place and trying to find where he fits in at school. On the other hand, it’s a topic that is starting to feel a bit overdone in middle grade fiction (at least to me). It probably wouldn’t matter if the writing, art, characters, etc. were incredible, but I didn’t feel that was the case here. Truthfully, I was a bit bored. Any time a small conflict arises for Cecil, it seems to be resolved pretty quickly without much fanfare.
There are a lot of similarities between Timid and New Kid by Jerry Craft: a young black middle school student with dreams of being a cartoonist starts attending a new school and learns to navigate the different dynamics between new white friends and new black friends. However, New Kid tells that story with a lot of humor and an engaging cast of characters, and in my opinion Timid doesn’t quite achieve that.
To be fair, the plot feels overdone to me as an adult who has read many middle-grade books over the years. A young reader who is just starting to explore this genre could totally see it with fresh eyes and appreciate those relatable struggles Cecil has. Also, I don’t want to undermine the important topics about race that are addressed. For example, Cecil has concerns about being labeled an “Oreo” at school if he befriends only the white students, yet he also struggles with the confidence to try and befriend the small group of black students.
It’s also interesting that the story is set in 1988, but that’s not super clear until well into the story when a character makes an offhand reference to the school yearbook. Young readers today will not pick up on the other subtle cues to the time period (e.g. a New Edition reference) and that could lead to some important context being lost. I think there are certainly students that will appreciate this book; I just don’t see it being as big of a hit as New Kid and other similar titles in my library.