Elle Campbell Wins Their Weekend

by Ben Kahn

Ferris Bueller's Day Off meets Gamer Girl for middle grade in this hilarious, heartfelt story about a non-binary kid trying to figure out who they are at home, at school, and in the fandom that changed their life. All Elle Campbell wants to do is meet their hero, non-binary icon Nuri Grena. Well, okay, they'd like a bit more than that -- they'd like to learn how to do cat eye makeup, for queen bee Casey to stop critiquing their outfits, and for the finale of Elle's favorite show to have been less terrible. But meeting Nuri means the most of all. So when Elle learns that Nuri is coming to town for book signing on Saturday, Elle is thrilled . It's the perfect chance to meet their hero! Elle's never been happier since they came out as non-binary, but they have a lot of questions -- questions only Nuri can answer. But Elle's dreams are dashed when an altercation with a surly substitute teacher lands Elle in Saturday detention. Elle is ready to give up until their two best friends come up with a plan to bust them out of school. A plan so outrageous, it just might work. Yet that's just step one. The kids also have to make their way across town with no money, no phones... and no driver's licenses. But they refuse to give up -- even if that means "borrowing" scooters from elementary school loan sharks, or winning a laser tag tournament with a cash prize. Comic-author Ben Kahn makes their middle grade debut with this zany, heartfelt love letter to friendship, John Hughes movies, and the power of accepting who you are . . . even when there's no set map for where you're going.

Genres: Middle Grade, LGBT, Queer, Contemporary, Fiction, Juvenile, Realistic Fiction

272 pages, Hardcover

First published October 17, 2023

Reviews

[Mimi · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[TJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elle Campbell Wins Their Weekend is one of the best debuts I’ve read this year! Kahn’s wit and humor are unmatched, and these characters are SO lovable (seriously, Taylor may be my favorite new character I’ve met this year). This story is a love letter to fandom and discovering your identity through it. I wish I could hang out with this friend group of characters forever; but I’ll settle for a Saturday afternoon with this good book in my lap instead. 5/5 stars, and I’d recommend to anyone looking for a middle grade book full of laughs, heart, and genuine gender identity exploration.

[seasalted.citrus (Topaz, Oliver) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5, in actuality. I read this months ago, I just wasn’t in the best place mentally and didn’t know how to make a Goodreads review without pouring my heart out. The target demographic won’t mind the immaturity, convoluted elements of the plot, and the characters being made of more gimmicks than actual personality traits, but it’s a bit different for the average adult reader crossover lol. Also, I’m so here for the transfemme nonbinary rep in a very fun story (and they don’t present androgynously)! Would it be ambitious for me to call this a Ferris Bueller retelling, with how much inspiration it takes from the film? 😆

It was a little obvious from some of the comedy that Ben Kahn’s background is in comics, lol. I really liked the laser tag scene for that reason, though! (And also, Dawn’s interactions with Elle were adorable.)

Despite the comedic tone, I found the general conversations around nonbinary representation and navigating gender to be very earnest (and realistic). Topics like the gendered nature of sexuality labels, and even forging your own identity outside of your role models, were discussed a little lengthily sometimes, but I think they’re pretty valuable to see in kidlit.

And ok, I know that the Nuri Grena stuff is supposed to be an entertaining plot point, but Elle’s fanby naïveté, and a couple other baby trans elements, were so painfully relatable??😭 There’s a couple quotes I STILL think about.

Elle shook their head, frustration boiling up inside them. “But I like sports!” they exclaimed, bringing their fist down on the table. “Maybe that’s their way of being nonbinary, so… so maybe I have a different way of being nonbinary, yeah? I just… don’t know what that way is yet.” Hearing the words out loud made Elle even more disappointed that their hero couldn’t be a perfect role model.

Still, I thought Elle being a huge fan of Nuri’s was written without making them seem obsessive, and I liked that, in the scope of support systems, the focus was kept on people Elle knew. (I think it helped that Nuri as a character didn’t appear for that much time.)

Idk, this was quite fun, just not perfect!! maybe recovering parasocial freaks should stay away from this though. feel like i should’ve done that

In too many stories they consumed, it was like people couldn’t conceive of how someone could be neither boy nor girl unless they were an entirely different species. It was definitely better than no representation, Elle thought to themself, but it was tiring when it was the only representation.
That was part of what made Nuri Grena and their version of Phantom Thief so special. They were an actual human being who was nonbinary not because they were some kind of strange sci-fi being who didn’t understand gender, but because it was what they felt inside and what they were happiest identifying as. Nuri had showed Elle that being nonbinary wasn’t just real, it was deeply and wonderfully human.

[chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

cute, twee, but not overly so
elle is adorable

[Alexander'sLibrary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did end up finishing this book after pushing through the first half, but it felt very cringey to me. Something about the characters' voices definitely felt like something I would have sounded like in middle school, but I'm not actually sure if middle schoolers still talk this way, so maybe I'm projecting. It's a cute story and I did like the premise, but there were many points I wanted to put the book down. I didn't like how antagonistic Elle's friends acted at times, especially considering the importance of the situation to Elle. I also thought they felt a little too immature and made some weird decisions. I mean, really, why would Agatha continuously act in a way that could have led the group to being kicked out of Johnny's, and why would all 3 kids suddenly abandon Elle's hope of meeting Nuri in pursuit of eating forbidden art display ice cream??? I really think middle schoolers are at least a little more emotionally intelligent than that. I also think a lot of these problems the kids made for themselves could have been solved by asking for directions... And I think it's a little unrealistic, unless it's a small school in a small town, that every single kid or school staff member would know Elle has detention, or that Elle's mom would be scrolling through social media enough to potentially spot Elle in the background of a wannabe influencer's post.

That aside, I do think maybe I would have enjoyed the book if I was younger, so I do have to say that my review is not indicative of how the target audience probably feels. I also think Elle's gender was handled well and the premise of journeying to figure out what it "means" to be nonbinary, or finding a magical formula to keep transphobes from rearing their ugly heads is something any nonbinary person can relate to, even if I was internally screaming at Elle and wanting to shake them by the shoulders and explain things myself.

If you don't mind a campy read, maybe you'll enjoy this book more than I did

[SamSamSam · Rating 3 out of 5]

A heist-like story that was fun theoretically, but so unrealistic as to be less enjoyable. And somehow still SO stress-inducing. Obviously the most valuable scene was the very end, when Elle actually gets to meet Nuri in person. Throughout the entire story, I just couldn't get over the fact that Elle's mom would actually make them go to detention during their one chance to meet a their nonbinary hero, especially when they're struggling hard with their identity at such a difficult age. If I was that parent I would have called the school and insisted on rescheduling detention. No punishment is that important. And we never got to see even an apology or acknowledgment from mom!! So while I love a nonbinary MC, this was not the story for me. There were some truly funny moments though, and I'm sure this has an audience amongst younger readers.

[Glenna Coleman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I could empathize with the main character, Elle, in their desire to meet their favorite actor and their adventures in ditching Saturday detention seemed fun. I was constantly tripped up by the characters' reactions and language, though. Sometimes, they seemed to be right on as seventh graders. Often, however, they seemed to react as much younger. It was disorienting. Also, although the adventures seemed fun, they seemed to take much longer than the time that passed within the storyline.

[Marisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This book felt like a bit of a slog, but thinking back, I can’t remember why. It’s only about 250 pages, and Agatha and Taylor and Elle are generally smart and funny. Once I started thinking of it in the vein of Ferris Buehler’s Day Off I enjoyed it more.

[Ms. Yingling · Rating 3 out of 5]

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

[Kristina Pino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute. Queer joy. Middle schoolers being middle schoolers.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Elle Campbell Wins Their Weekend: DNF. The writing style wasn't working for me--the dialogue felt quite unrealistically over-the-top, and the narration had a lot of awkward phrasings too.

[Scott Neigh]

Middle-grade contemporary with a nonbinary main character. Pleasingly silly and joyful.

[Elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did Not Finish. I probably should have realized from the Ferris Bueller's Day Off reference in the summary that this would Not Be For Me. I'm much more of a Jeanie (at the beginning of the movie). I'm too much of a rules- follower to enjoy a book where the main character skips out on detention to go to a public event in their town.

Also, I just didn't like the way the book was written. It seems pitched at the younger end of Children's Middle Grade (8 years old) I guess. ALSO I got to a part where one of Elle's friends is shouting out wrong answers to the Trivia being played at the restaurant they are at, and as a committed Trivia player... that really sucks. I took that personally.

[KD · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5