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Emily Posts
Middle school podcast advice columnist + social media influencer wannabe Emily Laurence takes on the principal at her school to stand up for a climate march, in this fun, school-based drama for ages 10 and up. For fans of Gordon Korman and Susin Nielsen.
Emily is the ringleader for her school podcast, Cedarview Speaks — Sponsored by CoastFresh! But her plans for middle-school fame and social media influence are derailed when Amelie joins her eighth-grade class. The new arrival has a seemingly endless supply of confidence and a gift for leading people. Or leading them astray, as far as Emily's concerned.
Emily puts her old-fashioned sense of etiquette into practice. Rather than confronting Amelie, she focuses her energy on creating a podcast story about an upcoming climate march. But her story is censored by the school principal. When she protests, Emily gets cut from the podcast crew . . . and Amelie takes her place!
Can Emily use her influence to spread the news of the climate march, reclaim her place on the podcast team and expose the flaws of CoastFresh? Can she balance her impeccable manners with twenty-first century activism? And how will she ever manage to work alongside Amelie?
With a light touch and plenty of humor, Emily Posts explores issues of social media, influence, corporate sponsorship . . . and the fraught waters of middle-school friendship.
Emily is the ringleader for her school podcast, Cedarview Speaks — Sponsored by CoastFresh! But her plans for middle-school fame and social media influence are derailed when Amelie joins her eighth-grade class. The new arrival has a seemingly endless supply of confidence and a gift for leading people. Or leading them astray, as far as Emily's concerned.
Emily puts her old-fashioned sense of etiquette into practice. Rather than confronting Amelie, she focuses her energy on creating a podcast story about an upcoming climate march. But her story is censored by the school principal. When she protests, Emily gets cut from the podcast crew . . . and Amelie takes her place!
Can Emily use her influence to spread the news of the climate march, reclaim her place on the podcast team and expose the flaws of CoastFresh? Can she balance her impeccable manners with twenty-first century activism? And how will she ever manage to work alongside Amelie?
With a light touch and plenty of humor, Emily Posts explores issues of social media, influence, corporate sponsorship . . . and the fraught waters of middle-school friendship.
264 pages, Hardcover
Published February 6, 2024
4 people are currently reading
78 people want to read
About the author
Tanya Lloyd Kyi
110 books84 followersTanya writes both fiction and non-fiction, often choosing topics related to science, pop culture, or social history—or a combination of the three. She enjoys combining factual research with intriguing narratives, or the life stories of interesting folks.
In her spare time, Tanya likes to run, bake, and read. Her favourite meal is breakfast, her favourite color is blue, and her favourite children’s book is A Wrinkle in Time.
Tanya grew up in Creston, B.C., and now lives in Vancouver with her husband, who claims to be the world's only Burmese occupational therapist. She balances writing time with parenthood, caring for her daughter Julia and her son Matthew.
In her spare time, Tanya likes to run, bake, and read. Her favourite meal is breakfast, her favourite color is blue, and her favourite children’s book is A Wrinkle in Time.
Tanya grew up in Creston, B.C., and now lives in Vancouver with her husband, who claims to be the world's only Burmese occupational therapist. She balances writing time with parenthood, caring for her daughter Julia and her son Matthew.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
February 11, 2024
i liked this better as it went along. i liked how even little details became important in the end. i am glad there was not this much social media when i was in middle school…that would have been horrible.
May 16, 2025
I liked this middle grade book. However, there were times when I felt it was very overdramatic, and the messages were very in your face regarding climate change and veganism. Not that either of those are bad things, it just was a bit over the top. That being said, Emily's friend group is true to life in their interactions with one another.
If you have a middle grader that you think would enjoy this book, I think it would be good to read it first, since there are a couple of things that would need discussing. It is a good reminder as to how much we, as a society, are influenced by certain influencers out there. I was pleased with the stand that Emily's mom took regarding her social media presence too.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-book. This is my honest review.
If you have a middle grader that you think would enjoy this book, I think it would be good to read it first, since there are a couple of things that would need discussing. It is a good reminder as to how much we, as a society, are influenced by certain influencers out there. I was pleased with the stand that Emily's mom took regarding her social media presence too.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-book. This is my honest review.
July 30, 2024
Emily Posts touches on a lot of contemporary themes: climate change, social media, youth with cell phones, changing friendships, celebrity worship, veganism, corporate sponsorship, influencer culture, blended families...I could go on! All of this creates a story that feels timely and realistic. Unfortunately, I found the main character to be so unlikeable that it made spending time with Emily Posts to feel like a chore. If I'm being charitable, maybe it's because I did this one as an audiobook...but I don't think so.
December 6, 2024
I struggled to connect with Emily's obsession with being an influencer but thats likely because of my age. I'm sure a young reader would connect to her a lot more. Overall, story was ok. A good story about the struggle to fit in in middle school but found thr "influencer" obsession not to my liking.
October 23, 2023
Copy provided by Edelweiss Plus
It's always just been Emily and her mother, who is an events planner at a boutique hotel. When her mother decides to move in with her boyfriend Richard, whom she is planning on marrying, Emily's calm life is disrupted by the change. Richard's eight year old son, Ocean, is particularly irritating, since he is loud and often breaks things. Emily is determined to be a social media influencer, and is very irritated that her mother won't let her post her picture on her YouHappy account. She's sure this is why she only has thirty followers, which is going to make it hard to monetize and get product placement agreements. She idolizes Asha Jamil, an actress who played an astronaut on a television show and posts frequently on the app about her lifestyle and environmental issues. Emily and her friend Simone, who wants to be a sustainable fashion designer when she grows up, are in charge of the school podcast, which is supervised by librarian Mr. Chadwick. The two hope to translate the skills they learn doing that into big social media accounts, but are struggling with the strictures the school puts in place. Principal Mr. Lau nixes a podcast they have put together that encourages students to attend a climate march, feeling that it's dangerous for middle school students to leave school in the middle of the day. Further complicating matters is new student, Amalie, who is pretty, claims to be a vegan, and really turns Simone's head. After Emily gets in trouble for publishing her climate march podcast without permission because she felt it was the right thing to do, Simone and Amalie are not only put in charge of the podcast, but are given the opportunity to interview Asha Jamil when she comes to town. Emily is stuck without her phone after her mother finds out that she posted pictures of herself, and she gets stuck babysitting Ocean, who blackmails her with an audio recording of her struggling with the family bidet. Emily finds out that Mr. Lau has changed the date of Jamil's visit to coincide with the climate march, so that students don't want to leave school, but Emily uncovers an even darker agenda with new corporate sponsors CA Energy and CoastFresh foods, who are talking about funding a new auditorium for the school, as well as other perks. Will Asha Jamil support CA Energy? Is Mr. Lau doing something shady? And, above all, what would Emily Post say about all of the manners of the modern day?
Strengths: Yep. Most of the 6th graders want to grow up to be social media influencers without having any idea of how much work goes into it. There are plenty of good details about what one needs to do, and to Emily's credit, she has done her research and is really trying to "build her brand". I also REALLY appreciated the fact that she only jumps from 30 followers to 50; After almost twenty years, I still only have about 300 followers of this blog! The blended family dynamics add a lot to this story; I love that Richard cooks, but has poor taste in artwork, and that Emily doesn't really mind him. The friend drama is spot on. Even though Amalie is perfectly nice, I kind of wanted to slap her. While this might one day be as dated as Pfeffer's Rewind to Yesterday (1988), tweens really need to see how social media influences others who are their age in order to understand how they use it themselves.
Weaknesses: While I found the inclusion of the historica Emily Post fascinating, modern readers will not know who she is. I would have swapped out Ocean and his bratty antics (which were realistic, but stressful to read about) for more concrete tips on how to behave in public. My students certainly would benefit from some of them! The inclusion of the mother and Richard sexting was a bit...odd. It was handled really well, but who in their right mind would ever do anything that questionable on a device?
What I really think: Add this to a growing list of social media related novels like Sax's Picture Day (2023) Hart's Marcus Makes it Big (2022), It Happened on Saturday (2023) and Feldman's Eza Exposed (2023) for all of the students who KNOW they are going to be the Next Big Thing.
It's always just been Emily and her mother, who is an events planner at a boutique hotel. When her mother decides to move in with her boyfriend Richard, whom she is planning on marrying, Emily's calm life is disrupted by the change. Richard's eight year old son, Ocean, is particularly irritating, since he is loud and often breaks things. Emily is determined to be a social media influencer, and is very irritated that her mother won't let her post her picture on her YouHappy account. She's sure this is why she only has thirty followers, which is going to make it hard to monetize and get product placement agreements. She idolizes Asha Jamil, an actress who played an astronaut on a television show and posts frequently on the app about her lifestyle and environmental issues. Emily and her friend Simone, who wants to be a sustainable fashion designer when she grows up, are in charge of the school podcast, which is supervised by librarian Mr. Chadwick. The two hope to translate the skills they learn doing that into big social media accounts, but are struggling with the strictures the school puts in place. Principal Mr. Lau nixes a podcast they have put together that encourages students to attend a climate march, feeling that it's dangerous for middle school students to leave school in the middle of the day. Further complicating matters is new student, Amalie, who is pretty, claims to be a vegan, and really turns Simone's head. After Emily gets in trouble for publishing her climate march podcast without permission because she felt it was the right thing to do, Simone and Amalie are not only put in charge of the podcast, but are given the opportunity to interview Asha Jamil when she comes to town. Emily is stuck without her phone after her mother finds out that she posted pictures of herself, and she gets stuck babysitting Ocean, who blackmails her with an audio recording of her struggling with the family bidet. Emily finds out that Mr. Lau has changed the date of Jamil's visit to coincide with the climate march, so that students don't want to leave school, but Emily uncovers an even darker agenda with new corporate sponsors CA Energy and CoastFresh foods, who are talking about funding a new auditorium for the school, as well as other perks. Will Asha Jamil support CA Energy? Is Mr. Lau doing something shady? And, above all, what would Emily Post say about all of the manners of the modern day?
Strengths: Yep. Most of the 6th graders want to grow up to be social media influencers without having any idea of how much work goes into it. There are plenty of good details about what one needs to do, and to Emily's credit, she has done her research and is really trying to "build her brand". I also REALLY appreciated the fact that she only jumps from 30 followers to 50; After almost twenty years, I still only have about 300 followers of this blog! The blended family dynamics add a lot to this story; I love that Richard cooks, but has poor taste in artwork, and that Emily doesn't really mind him. The friend drama is spot on. Even though Amalie is perfectly nice, I kind of wanted to slap her. While this might one day be as dated as Pfeffer's Rewind to Yesterday (1988), tweens really need to see how social media influences others who are their age in order to understand how they use it themselves.
Weaknesses: While I found the inclusion of the historica Emily Post fascinating, modern readers will not know who she is. I would have swapped out Ocean and his bratty antics (which were realistic, but stressful to read about) for more concrete tips on how to behave in public. My students certainly would benefit from some of them! The inclusion of the mother and Richard sexting was a bit...odd. It was handled really well, but who in their right mind would ever do anything that questionable on a device?
What I really think: Add this to a growing list of social media related novels like Sax's Picture Day (2023) Hart's Marcus Makes it Big (2022), It Happened on Saturday (2023) and Feldman's Eza Exposed (2023) for all of the students who KNOW they are going to be the Next Big Thing.
January 7, 2024
Emily Posts
by Tanya Lloyd Kyi
Pub Date 06 Feb 2024
Penguin Random House Canada,Tundra Books
Children's Fiction
Penguin Random House Canada, Tundra Books, and Netgalley sent me a copy to review:
With this fun, school-based drama for ages 10 and up, middle school podcast advice columnist Emily Laurence stands up to the principal for a climate march. Fans of Gordon Korman and Susin Nielsen will love this.
Emily runs Cedarview Speaks - sponsored by CoastFresh! Amelie joins her eighth-grade class and dashes her plans for middle-school fame. New arrival has a lot of confidence and a knack for leading. As far as Emily's concerned, she's leading them astray.
Emily practices old-fashioned etiquette. Rather than confront Amelie, she creates a podcast about a climate march. Her story is censored by the principal. Emily gets cut from the podcast crew when she protests . . . Amelie takes her place!
Can Emily spread the word about the climate march, reclaim her place on the podcast team and expose CoastFresh's flaws? Is she able to balance her impeccable manners with 21st century activism? How will she ever work with Amelie?
In this book, Emily Posts explores social media, influence, corporate sponsorship, and the fraught waters of middle-school friendship.
I give Emily Posts five out of five stars!
Happy Reading!
by Tanya Lloyd Kyi
Pub Date 06 Feb 2024
Penguin Random House Canada,Tundra Books
Children's Fiction
Penguin Random House Canada, Tundra Books, and Netgalley sent me a copy to review:
With this fun, school-based drama for ages 10 and up, middle school podcast advice columnist Emily Laurence stands up to the principal for a climate march. Fans of Gordon Korman and Susin Nielsen will love this.
Emily runs Cedarview Speaks - sponsored by CoastFresh! Amelie joins her eighth-grade class and dashes her plans for middle-school fame. New arrival has a lot of confidence and a knack for leading. As far as Emily's concerned, she's leading them astray.
Emily practices old-fashioned etiquette. Rather than confront Amelie, she creates a podcast about a climate march. Her story is censored by the principal. Emily gets cut from the podcast crew when she protests . . . Amelie takes her place!
Can Emily spread the word about the climate march, reclaim her place on the podcast team and expose CoastFresh's flaws? Is she able to balance her impeccable manners with 21st century activism? How will she ever work with Amelie?
In this book, Emily Posts explores social media, influence, corporate sponsorship, and the fraught waters of middle-school friendship.
I give Emily Posts five out of five stars!
Happy Reading!
July 20, 2024
Emily Lawrence tries to follow who she considers to be the first social influcer, Emily Post, from her etiquette book published in the 1920's. She wants to use what she has learned to become her own social media influencer which is hampered by her mom's strict rules about what Emily can and can't do with her social media account. Things are made more complicated by moving in with her mom's new boyfriend and his hyper, obnoxious son, Ocean. Emily channels her drive into a school podcast with her best friend Simone, but that takes a hitch too when new girl Amelie, draws Simone's attention her way and Emily gets in trouble for focusing her podcast on an upcoming Climate March. Her idol, Asha Jamil, is coming to the school, but things aren't going the way Emily likes. Though the books focuses on imporant topics - family, friendship, veganism, climate change - most of these topics stay on the surface and never dig deep . Though Emily is an intresting, focused character, there were many emotional and social topics that barely scratched the surface.
March 2, 2024
4 stars
I read a digital advance copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley.
Emily Post is the role model of eighth grader and future influencer Emily Lawrence. Things are on track for her stellar YouHappy social media account when the principal announces their school will be visited by one of Emily's favorite social media presences: Asha Jamil. And then Amalie joins their school, and their friend circle and seems to have everything going for her that Emily suddenly needs. until the climate march, which is cancelled from their school podcast since it conflicts with the principal's relationship with a major energy corporation who is planning to build their school a new auditorium. As Emily navigates tricky friendships and finding her voice to take a stand on an issue that really moves her, she consults her trusty Emily Post who has no advice for middle school in the 21st century. The theme that weaves it way throughout is finding your voice and taking a stand.
I read a digital advance copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley.
Emily Post is the role model of eighth grader and future influencer Emily Lawrence. Things are on track for her stellar YouHappy social media account when the principal announces their school will be visited by one of Emily's favorite social media presences: Asha Jamil. And then Amalie joins their school, and their friend circle and seems to have everything going for her that Emily suddenly needs. until the climate march, which is cancelled from their school podcast since it conflicts with the principal's relationship with a major energy corporation who is planning to build their school a new auditorium. As Emily navigates tricky friendships and finding her voice to take a stand on an issue that really moves her, she consults her trusty Emily Post who has no advice for middle school in the 21st century. The theme that weaves it way throughout is finding your voice and taking a stand.
January 21, 2024
Emily is a young, witty social influencer and the passion behind her middle school's podcast- Ceadarville Speaks. She has so many plans for the future until a new student arrives and seems to be out influenced. How will she outwit Amelia and continue her plans? Will she be able to us the Climate March to regain her spot on top?
This novel will be very appealing to the middle school audience as it includes so many themes that are so important to this demographic (e.g., social media presence, friendship, social activism, etc.). Emily will inspire her audience with her tenacity, passion and humor. This book will a great gift or addition to classroom, school and public libraries.
Thank you #NetGalley and #PenguinRandomHouse and Tanya Lloyd Kyi for the opportunity to read and share this ARC #EmilyPosts
This novel will be very appealing to the middle school audience as it includes so many themes that are so important to this demographic (e.g., social media presence, friendship, social activism, etc.). Emily will inspire her audience with her tenacity, passion and humor. This book will a great gift or addition to classroom, school and public libraries.
Thank you #NetGalley and #PenguinRandomHouse and Tanya Lloyd Kyi for the opportunity to read and share this ARC #EmilyPosts
February 5, 2024
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a chance to read this digital galley.
Enjoyable read about an 8th grader, Emily Laurence, who is an influencer and runs her school's podcast. Emily draws inspiration from Emily Post, a socialite in the 1920s who wrote about etiquette. There are lots of contemporary themes explored in this book, including friendship dynamics, mixed families, and social causes such as climate change and veganism.
This book will certainly appeal to grades 4-7. Emily is an enjoyable character and her struggles are realistic for this day and age.
Enjoyable read about an 8th grader, Emily Laurence, who is an influencer and runs her school's podcast. Emily draws inspiration from Emily Post, a socialite in the 1920s who wrote about etiquette. There are lots of contemporary themes explored in this book, including friendship dynamics, mixed families, and social causes such as climate change and veganism.
This book will certainly appeal to grades 4-7. Emily is an enjoyable character and her struggles are realistic for this day and age.
September 26, 2025
A light-hearted, inspiring novel full of fun. I feel I am in Emily's world and going on her save-the-world journey with her.
Emily is all about putting an end to climate change and becoming a famous influencer, with her role model, Emily Post guiding her. Emily is part of a podcast for Cederview speaks, her schools podcast program.
When she hears that Asha Jamil!, a very cool and smart celebrity is coming to her school, she is overjoyed until she hears the reason why her principle got her to come which definitely didn't please Emily.
Emily is all about putting an end to climate change and becoming a famous influencer, with her role model, Emily Post guiding her. Emily is part of a podcast for Cederview speaks, her schools podcast program.
When she hears that Asha Jamil!, a very cool and smart celebrity is coming to her school, she is overjoyed until she hears the reason why her principle got her to come which definitely didn't please Emily.
never-finished
March 10, 2024I liked what I read of this, as it mixed the usual middle school angst (and a new, incredibly annoying stepbrother!) with activism and awareness and social media. I could see a lot of kids liking this one. There's no good reason I didn't quite finish this one; just too many books, too little time! But I did check out the ending and like where it ended up. Thanks to Libro.FM for a free educator copy of the audiobook.
October 20, 2024
I didn't think I was going to like this at that start. The protagonist seemed vapid. But then I realized she was a bit like Emma—you know, Jane Austen's Emma, in her book (Emma). And the stakes seemed pretty shallow. But then things exploded, and the stake got REAL big. And she evolved. I'm glad I carried on. 3.873421 stars.
December 18, 2023
When her school cancels her podcast story about an upcoming environmental march due to concern about a conflicting corporate sponsorship, eighth-grade aspiring social media influencer Emily fights back in this empowering novel that centers youth activism.
November 28, 2023
I thought it was cute. A few plot holes but I liked the journey the main character took even though the resolution was a little too neat.
February 6, 2024
3.5 ⭐️ rounded down
This was such a cute middle grade book. The obsession with being a social media influencer got annoying but it’s definitely age appropriate. I loved the neurodivergent friends. This book hit on a lot of relevant topics for middles, like blended family, and new friends. The new friends was definitely center stage, and feeling left out and how to navigate those feelings. I also really appreciated that there was not a romance angle.
The narration of the audio book was fantastic
Thank you to libro.fm for the ALC.
This was such a cute middle grade book. The obsession with being a social media influencer got annoying but it’s definitely age appropriate. I loved the neurodivergent friends. This book hit on a lot of relevant topics for middles, like blended family, and new friends. The new friends was definitely center stage, and feeling left out and how to navigate those feelings. I also really appreciated that there was not a romance angle.
The narration of the audio book was fantastic
Thank you to libro.fm for the ALC.
November 16, 2024
Great book for 5th graders and above! Loved the story. Warning though, one short part does mention “sexting”.
November 27, 2024
Audio book with the kids
March 18, 2025
Green Earth nominee for Children’s Fiction. Perfect for 3-6 graders.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews