The Things We Miss

by Leah Stecher

"Magical and heartbreaking! You will read this book in one gulp." - Jennifer L. Holm, New York Times-bestselling author of The Fourteenth Goldfish

When You Reach Me meets Starfish in this heartfelt contemporary middle grade about a misfit girl who finds a way to skip all of the hard parts of life.

J.P. Green has always felt out of step. She doesn't wear the right clothes, she doesn't say the right things, and her body…well, she'd rather not talk about it. And seventh grade is shaping up to be the worst year yet. So when J.P. discovers a mysterious door in her neighbor's treehouse, she doesn't hesitate before walking through. The door sends her three days forward in time.

Suddenly, J.P. can skip all the worst parts of seventh Fitness tests in P.E., oral book reports, awkward conversations with her mom…she can avoid them all and no one even knows she was gone.

But can you live a life without any of the bad parts? Are there experiences out there that you can't miss?

This moving middle grade novel about mental health, body acceptance, and self-confidence asks what it truly means to show up for the people you love-and for yourself.

Genres: Middle Grade, Time Travel, Science Fiction, Childrens, Magical Realism, Grief, Fantasy

267 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 7, 2024

Reviews

[Em · Rating 5 out of 5]

Didn’t know when picking up my friends new middle school novel about time traveling tree houses I would be sobbing hysterically about grief, life changes, and bullies. 😭

[Megan Freeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite new middle grade novels to date, which I was fortunate to receive an advanced copy of. I loved every word and can’t wait for others to read this gem of a book.

[Stephanie Fitzgerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone has to do middle-school, at some time in their lives. Some people seem to sail right through, knowing exactly what to do. Others just don’t seem to have been given the handbook “for perfection”, and nothing about them seems right…to themselves, anyway.
J.P. is a seventh-grader who feels that she’s always in that second group, of never being in sync with others about clothes, her body, her interests, etc. By pure accident one day, she chances upon a door in her neighbors’ treehouse that magically opens just for her. J.P. is transported three days ahead in time, and discovers that she can now skip the terrible, unpleasant parts of her life. Fat-shaming from bullying Mean Girls, oral reports, fitness tests, her grampa’s chemo treatments; J.P. can skip all of those things! The more she escapes from life through the secret door, and reads the “notes” that she took down on the “skip” days, however, J.P. gets the feeling that she’s missing out on a lot more than just the worst parts of life…
An insightful middle-grade novel, with a clever twist on the cliche, “Be careful what you wish for.”

Trigger Warnings:
Instances of fat-shaming/bullying; decline/death of a family member from cancer

Memorable Quotes:
(Pg.259)-“This door, this wacky funhouse door painted by my neighbors, had somehow given me exactly what I’d wished for. Except, in the most cliched truth of all time, I should have been more careful with my wishes.”
(Pg.243)-“Hadn’t I put off happiness long enough? I’d spent the whole school year dodging real life, avoiding anything that scared me or made me feel awkward or weird. Anything that made me feel like an outsider…but in doing that, I’d also avoided Kevin. Pop-Pop. I’d avoided friendship and laughter, and yeah, happiness too.”
(Pg. 153)-“Your Grandma Joan did so many things in her life…Most days, she woke up smiling and went to bed smiling. Those aren’t things you can cross off a checklist…they’re important to the sum total of a life, you know…”

[Luna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully emotional middle grade novel about mental health, grief, body acceptance, and self-confidence that begs the question 'if you could skip all the hard parts of life...would you?' J.P. found a magic door in her neighbors tree house that allows her to jump forward in time by 3 days. But in skipping all the things she doesn't want to deal with she might be missing more than she originally realized.

I couldn't put this books down and would recommend it to readers of all ages (9+). It was heartbreaking to be back in the mind of a insecure young person now as an adult but I really loved going through it with our main character and watching her grow into her self throughout the book.

Thank you to Bloomsbury Childrens Books and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

[Aida Hernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Devastated she lost all that time with her pop pop. Mc was very infuriating and I wanted to give her a hug and tell her to f all the bad thoughts.

[Steph · Rating 5 out of 5]

A 5-star middle grade novel about loving yourself the way you are, and living in the moment through all the parts of life… even the really messy ones. When I was little, my dad read me “The Magic Thread” on a camping trip from Jim Trelease's "Hey, Listen to This!: Stories to Read Aloud." This book would pair perfectly with that.

- - - - -

"That's a bad thing to say," she informed me.
Everyone was looking at me, still looking. But their faces had changed to match Miranda's. And I knew I'd done it again. Said the wrong thing. Been the wrong person.“

“Secrets create weakness.”

“At some point you have to figure out who you are. Are you someone who picks themselves back up? Are you someone who learns how to handle hardship and losing friendships, and keep going? Do you know how to find your people and let yourself have fun? And if you don't learn about that in seventh grade with everyone else, then... when will you learn it?"

“My throat closed, choking me with sadness. It would be so unspeakably unfair to skip this pain. Pain I'd brought on myself. I deserved to feel it. I wanted to feel it, more than I wanted it to be over. Because it was the only thing I had left of (him.)”

“It was a weird idea, claiming your spot in the dirt years before you would need it. How did you go through the rest of your life, knowing that your little plot of earth was waiting for you?”

“There's magic in creating a memory with another person. We take these shared moments and we split them in half for safekeeping—one half to me, one half to you. And there's magic in fitting those halves back together, in reliving the moment together-laughing, crying, "Remember when you said —" "And then you did" And if only one of you has the memory, it misses its other half. The magic trickles away.“

“I wish I could be with you to help figure it all out. But I'll tell you the secret: no one has it figured out. The joy comes from figuring it out. One day at a time. Live your life, all of it, full of magic and mirades and beauty and pain and sorrow. You'll be glad you did. I am.”

“It says a lot about you, that you’re friends with a bully.”

[Tziporah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bitter and sweet are two sides of the same coin, and Leah Stecher's beautiful novel shows us how we can't have one without the other. When J.P. figures out how to skip the hard parts of middle school and life at home, she learns that avoiding the tough stuff leaves holes that can't be filled. The Things We Miss is deftly written, full of humor and heartache and so, so much heart. I simply loved it.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. ...WOW.

I wanted to read a 'slightly older' Middle Grade book, because I realized I had very little to (personally) recommend to customers in that age range at the bookstore I work at. I saw this on a chart last week and thought the premise sounded good, so I gave it a shot.

Based on the premise I felt pretty certain I would identify with it, but it hit me so much harder than I anticipated. I wish I could go back and have kid-me read this book. I'm pretty sure I could've avoided an awful lot of numbing out/"time-skipping" throughout my life.

This book is so, so, so incredibly valuable. The whole thing obviously felt like a bit of an addiction allegory, and I think it could go an incredibly long way towards helping kids think about the true consequences of trying to "numb out" or "skip time"...beyond all the "don't do drugs, you'll die the first time" scare tactics, the real tragedy in seeking escape in various forms is in all of the little moments of genuine connection you're losing. All of the moments where you've ripped yourself off, and ripped all of your loved ones off, by "being there, but not BEING THERE" - being there in body, but not at all mentally/emotionally. You become a ghost. An absolute void of a human being. An energy vacuum. A black hole.

As someone who went to great lengths to not "be there" as my own father was dying, and who spent years "not being there" in various ways- this book hit pretty hard. Much like J.P. and Kevin, my running eventually led to the loss of one of the most important relationships in my life- because my incessant need to "skip the hard parts" and numb out turned me into a horrible friend...and of course I responded to that loss by doubling down on not "being there."

I learned a lot on that journey. I've grown a lot. I've forced myself to "be there" and not run to the comfort of my various "magic treehouses" like J.P. eventually learned to do as well...but it was a brutal ride.

Chapter 23 gave me chills- it felt SO true to that period of my life. That weird near-dissociation- "A day is just a day. A unit of one. And it's easy enough to do one of anything. But it's also 24 hours. [...] When a day is 86,400 seconds, it's almost impossible."

Maybe if I had read this book when I was a kid I would've been able to appreciate the myriad ways numbing out or trying to escape would rip me and everyone I love off. It wasn't until so much damage was done that I could recognize how completely necrotizing it really was- the promise of instant relief is so alluring, but you pay for it in devastating ways. You're so consumed with numbing your own pain that you can't even recognize the pain you're causing others. Maybe this book would've helped me see that the scary and uncomfortable moments are often the seedbed for the absolute best, richest, most fulfilling aspects of your life. Sure, life is brutal, and feeling it all can be horrendous...but the alternative is so much worse.

I picked this up just so I could have something to recommend to customers, but it ended up being one of my favorite books of the year. This story will stick with me for a long, long time.

I'm stoked this book exists, and so excited thinking about all of the conversations it will spark for kids who read it!

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

J.P. lost her dad unexpectedly in the 5th grade. In the 7th grade, she finds a door that can let her skip 3 days in a row whenever she doesn't want to feel bad feelings like when kids call her fat. Oh and her grandpa has cancer. This book was a pretty emotional one and I loved the message. It's a little like Click where her body is still living the 3 days she skipped even though her brain isn't but it's actually a BIT more like Severance because there's kind of a different personality she has when she is in the skip period. I really liked the parts where J.P. would get sad thinking about her favorite TV Show because her dad introduced her to that superhero because that's very relatable. I also am very appreciative that in parts where the book could have coped out, they didn't, making for some pretty dark plot points.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books that make libraries with genrified shelving crazy (it's me, I'm the library with genrefied shelving).

Is it realistic fiction? YES, but it also has a magic treehouse that allows the girl to skip three days at a time (her body is there, but she can skip all the feelings that come with those days-like when she has to run the mile or deal with the 7th grade bully or learn about her grandfather's cancer diagnosis). So, not completely realistic even though the bulk of it is about dealing with the reality of 7th grade.

So is it fantasy? YES, but it's also mainly about relationships. With your family, with your friends, and with yourself.

So, do I know where to shelve it? No. Am I still going to purchase it for my middle school's collection? Absolutely.

[Breanna Beaulieu · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a beautiful story that took me back to my 8th grade self. (Even though J.P. is in 7th grade). The way J.P. narrates the struggles with her body, her emotions, and friendship was so spot on I found deep compassion for our main character (and my 8th grade self). It was a touching story that allows us (as adults) to pause and reflect on all the character those time gave us. For middle grade readers it provides them a space to confirm they are not alone.

Leah, this books is truly amazing! I recommend to adults and middle grades alike.

[Nicole M. Hewitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is utterly gorgeous and also gut-wrenching. I felt such dread and sympathy for JP, even while I wondered how she would ever climb her way out of the hole she had dug for herself. This is one of those books that makes you feel everything along with the MC. Can't recommend it enough!

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m wrecked. JP is relatable in every way. The writing is beautiful. The themes are relevant for all ages.

[Aliza Gans · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who has struggled with depression and have chunks of my high school experience I have almost no memory of, this book hit hard and was a meaningful read.

[Danielle Nichole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh. This one hurt. I thought a magic tree house story was going to be whimsical mid lit. I'm a sucker for a coming-of-age story with a pinch of magic or bad sci-fi.

Read by Jennifer Jill Araya. #booksin25

[Bre · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am unsure what made me request this book on Libby but I really enjoyed it. It’s a wonderful story of family, grief, dealing with hard things, regret, and though it carries hard themes, it handles them with grace and in a beautiful way. It’s quick paced and though there were a few slow moments, it kept me engaged and I loved Pop Pop 💛

[Ms. Yingling · Rating 3 out of 5]

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

J.P.'s father died when she was in fifth grade, and it was a difficult thing for both her and her mother to go through. Her grandfather, Pop Pop, moves in with them, and battles lung cancer for a while, but is eventually cleared after chemotherapy. As seventh grade starts, J.P. is very apprehensive. Her best friend, Kevin Takagi, is more hopeful, and ready to be his authentic self after having done an internship with his aunt, a costume designer, in Japan. J.P., however, feels that none of her clothes fit, her hair is too frizzy, and also that her mother, who does PR for an advertising firm, is always disappointed in her. The first day is disastrous, with a two small gym uniform and mean girls like Miranda who make "helpful" comments about losing weight and how the school should investigate more size inclusive uniforms. Another student, Jessi Moaziz, is nice, but is also a bigger girl, and J.P. is afraid to be friendly with her lest Miranda and her cronies make snide remarks about their "chub club". When the gym teacher, Mr. Waters, tells them that even though the Presidential Fitness Test has been discontinued, they will still be doing his own version of it, J.P. dreads school even more. Going in to the neighbor's tree house, which the college aged girls' mother painted with lifelike scenes, to take refuge, J.P. finds that when she puts her hand on the doorknob, a door opens! When she steps through it, she feels a great sense of calm, and when she reemerges, it is three days later! She tells Kevin about it, and he confirms that she was around for three days, but she has no memory of anything that happened. The two set off to investigate this, taking notes on how long she is gone, whether Kevin can travel, etc., but Kevin soon loses interest. When Pop Pop's cancers returns, and J.P.'s mother wants her to go to an Autumn Ball, J.P. reacts to these stresses by going to the treehouse and losing three days of her life. Kevin notices, and becomes distant; things are going on in his life that J.P. misses, and the two eventually fall out. Even though she knows she shouldn't, the treehouse beckons, and J.P. spends more and more time fast forwarding her life. She is looking forward to the movie premier of her and her father's favorite comic character, Admiral K, and she and Kevin (as well as Jessi) have tickets, but she is "skipping" and misses the movie. Pop Pop's cancer returns, and he goes downhill quickly. So do J.P.'s grades, and her mother is called in to school to talk about them. J.P. and her mother have a terrible fight. Will J.P. be able to learn to handle the stresses in her life without resorting to time travel?
Strengths: As Ms. Simmons (J.P.'s helpful math teacher) opines, middle school isn't really easy for anyone, but there is a lot to be learned by showing up and dealing with reality. J.P.'s discomfort with everything about herself is not unusual, and having to deal with Miranda pretending to be "helpful" is maddening; it was good to see Jessi call the girls on it, and to see that the principal took her concerns seriously and punished the girls. Kevin is a good friend, but when J.P. is not there for him during a difficult time in his life, his reaction is realistic. This serves as a good reminder to tweens that no matter how difficult our own lives are, we have to make sure we check on our friends and be aware of their needs! PopPop is a great character, and his fight with cancer is heart wrenching. The time travel is used to good effect, in a completely different way than any other middle grade book I've seen.
Weaknesses: There was a lot of discussion about Admiral K that could have been briefer. Also, I sort of hoped at the end of this that J.P. would magically go back to a time when her grandfather was well and would have learned to appreciate the moment. It would have made the book a bit more hopeful. Also, our school hasn't had gym uniforms in a good fifteen years; I'm surprised any schools do. Our students just wear whatever workout clothes they find comfortable; of course, it is often what they wear all day!
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who want the mental health aspects of Baron's The Gray or Lerner's A Work in Progress, mixed with the fantasy elements of Reynold's Izzy at the End of the World or Allen's The Nightmare House. I love the idea of time travel, but never really think about going forward in time, only backwards, since I know that today is the best that life will ever get, and tomorrow will probably bring only sadness.

[curiouskat_books · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read the entire book and wished I hadn't. The main character is insufferable. I cannot think of another book with someone as self obsessed, careless for other's feelings, or lacking basic social skills.

She spends the entire story making assumptions about how people view her and doesn't tell them how she feels. She believes everyone is fat shaming her but goes on to trash another girl who wanted to be her friend. Initially pushing her away because she didn't want to be seen with another fat girl.

It was incredibly hard to read as she was a miserable character to experience. She wallowed in self misery. Most of which was based on nothing. Even when others made it clear that they needed her to be present or that they were going through a tough time, she kept making it about herself. The event that made her change her mind about her reckless behavior was sad but not surprising. She chose to keep skipping moments and other people paid the cost. Even in the end, when others spoke to her about their feelings, she continued to make it about herself. It sounded less like she wanted to be a better person, and more so that she wanted to mend her guilt. At one point, she told her best friend she was sorry she was a bad friend, but then she got upset because he agreed with her. Thinking, "I hate that he kept agreeing with me." The end of the conversation turned to him consoling her again, rather than her supporting him through his issues. She didn't even apologize to the girl she shunned and admitted she was "kinda rude" to her. Never actually did so in the book, only mentioned she planned to do so. In the end, she never actually changed. At minimum she only had undone some of the bad behavior she established during the story.

This book doesn't actually involve time travel. She doesn't go forward in time. Her mind just seems to check out for several days while she goes into "autopilot" Most of the book read like someone on a drug addiction. I would also like to note that altering someone else's property, without approval for the change, is illegal. I don't understand why they didn't just ask the neighbor, but then again the main character did spend the entire time just doing whatever they wanted without thinking of others or the consequences.

[Melanie Dulaney · Rating 4 out of 5]

J.P. has always been uncomfortable in her own skin, felt singled out because she does not have a slim physique and enjoys a TV show spawned by a comic book series about a space exploring crew. Kevin is her one close friend and they can tell each other anything and each one supports the others’ quirks and personal preferences. But 7th grade is beginning and J.P. knows that it will be worse than all the other grades put together. She’s right. A threesome of “pretty girls” make snide remarks about how many calories in her lunch, suggest that she order a special sized PE uniform and generally provide all sorts of helpful tips to improve her appearance. Her beloved grandfather’s cancer may have returned and her beautiful, successful lawyer mother seems as concerned with her appearance as the tormenting trio and less interested in spending time with her. The only refuge she has is the treehouse next to her home and during one visit to her place of respite, she sees a an actual doorknob on a painted door inside. Going through that door takes her into nothingness, but when she returns, it’s three days later and she has skipped over three whole days of unhappiness. The “skipping” becomes more and more frequent resulting in missed lectures, unawareness of what is going on with Kevin, and more. There is a J.P. who is present but just a few notes left by the stand in version is not enough to fill in the gaps. When the skipping results in several truly important events and the loss of her only friend, the importance of being present, learning from the hard things, and how to find the joy inside and with others finally begin to sink in.

Strengths:
*may make readers think about the value in working through the hard parts of life
*equates body shaming to bullying and provides some concrete examples of ways to deal with those bullies
*illustrates and defines a true friend
*no profanity, violence or sexual content
*diversity in sexual identity, race and body shapes


Weakness:
*could have conveyed all the good stuff in far less pages

Target age range: grades 5-8

[Sophia Riley · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley!

I wasn't sure how to feel about this book.

The premise was strong. I don't think it deserves 2 stars, but the book could have been made stronger than it was. The reason was that I found myself bored through the first two parts. I know I'm an adult so this book is not for me, but I also work with kids and books a lot, and this one simply didn't grab me.

I loved the idea of the protagonist skipping through life instead of facing the hard things. The book had relatable body image issues and described dissociation pretty well. I also liked Kevin's character (although both he and JP were kind of bad friends, but I guess that's middle school, and you learn how to be a friend as you go).

It was a pretty unique and straightforward depiction of time travel that I haven't seen explored in books—skipping forward mentally while your body stays in the present. Middle school does suck, but JP starts jeopardizing school, her friendship with her friend Kevin, and her other relationships. She even starts missing fun moments, and time spent with her grandpa who has cancer. I liked this idea. I would've liked to see the magical realism pushed a little further.

Speaking of the grandpa, I didn't like how that was handled. I mean, she misses the guy's death! That is so traumatic. I kept waiting for her to find a way to travel back and change things and finally live in the present, but her time travel only allows her to go forward, so she just has to live with the terrible fact that she missed her grandpa's passing (even though she was there physically and held his hand while he died).

[Katie Reilley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to Bloomsbury for sending a finished copy for #Bookexpedition to read and share.

J.P. has never felt like she “fits in,” and her 7th grade year is looking to be no different. When she discovers a mysterious door in her neighbor’s treehouse, she doesn’t think twice before walking through. The door sends her three days forward in time.

J.P. suddenly realizes that she can skip the worst parts of 7th grade, like PE fitness tests and awkward clothes shopping conversations with her mom. But is living a life without the bad parts really worth it?

With topics of friendship, body acceptance, and self-confidence, this middle grade novel will have readers questioning what it means to show up for those you love, and for yourself.

Favorite lines:

Page 94:
…“That’s the thing, J. P.” Pop Pop pointed at me. “Life isn’t meant to be flat. It’s lots of uphills so you can enjoy the downhills afterwards.”

Page 230:
But I believe, more than I believe anything else, that the true miracle and beauty in life comes from living it…But I’ll tell you the secret: no one has it figured out. The joy comes from figuring it out. One day at a time. Live your life, all of it, full of magic and miracles and beauty and pain and sorrow. You’ll be glad you did. I am. (Pop Pop)

Page 248:
“But, it’s like Admiral K says: ‘There’s nothing shameful in being afraid. There’s only shame in letting your fear control you.’”

[Beth for BPL Teens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh sweet J.P. I have been where you are. How many times have I wished that I could just skip ahead through life's hardest moments? I never thought about what I would truly miss if I did, however. This novel gives readers some great perspective on the importance of living in the moment, even and especially when life feels really, really hard.

J.P. is having a rough time in 7th grade. Her father has just passed away, and she misses him terribly. She has a great mom, a grandfather that she loves very much, and a best friend who would do anything for her. But when J.P. discovers that the neighbor's tree house, where she often runs away to escape the world, is an actual time machine that can jet set her a few days forward in time, she realizes she's got the fix for dealing with these really difficult problems. Maybe if she can just skip them altogether, she'll feel better. But when skipping the hardest moments means missing the most joyful ones, she begins to understand that the magic of life isn't being able to skip the hard parts, but learning and living through them instead.

This book was beautifully written, with characters I wanted to scoop up and hug. I loved the messages here, including the wonderful passage with J.P.'s mom about how we need to love our bodies, no matter what they look like.

Great book, and such a sweet story.

[Chris Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Good news hits, bad news smothers"

Stecher wastes no time building J.P.'s character and introducing "the device". The "magic" of J.P.'s world, the portal which skips her ahead by 3 days, is not merely a trick to write a fantasy novel about, but a frame in which to discuss a major theme (this is common of the great works). By the time I was halfway through, watching J.P.'s reactions to the life she lived and the reflections on the events she missed, I recognized the theme: depression. J.P. is so anxious and hard on herself that she won't even let herself try - and she finds the glorious escape of the treehouse.

What surprised me is finding another complimentary theme - as I read it, J.P. is addicted to using the portal. The comfort she found in the first few skips spirals; "using" more and more, harming her life and the lives of those around her (especially her best friend Kevin), and Stecher even depicts her trance-like, automaton walks to the portal towards the end. As is often the case, J.P. breaks her addiction after hitting rock bottom and "waking up" to her problem. Thankfully the book ends with a positive and optimistic treatment for J.P. - she has hard work ahead, but this time, she won't miss it.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

In THE THINGS WE MISS, J.P. finds herself struggling in seventh grade. She’s uncomfortable in her body, which is only reinforced by comments made by some of her classmates and even unwittingly by her own mother. She escapes to a treehouse in a neighbor’s yard and discovers a door that lets her “skip” ahead in time. While this seems amazing at first, her absences begin to take a toll on her schoolwork, friendships, and relationships with her family, and J.P. finds that she needs to evaluate the consequences of avoiding the tough situations in her life.

J.P.’s relationships with others—her mother, her Pop Pop, her best friend Kevin, her school bullies, and her potential friend Jessi—are authentic and draw the reader into the story. With its unusual take on time travel, this book gives readers a lot to consider. J.P. deals with scenarios around friendship, grief, and self-esteem that may be familiar to some readers, and they may relate to her impulse to avoid challenging times. The message about being present and living in the moment is an important one and THE THINGS WE MISS does a beautiful job of illustrating this through J.P.’s journey.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC of the book.

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic middle grade novel about living a full life on your terms even when everything is messy and painful and very, very middle school. JP is a bright, insightful, and extremely funny kid dealing with A LOT in 7th grade. Seriously, the voice of this book is so brilliant--I laughed out loud so many times on the way to devastating heartbreak. She's living with Mom and Pop Pop after her father's death, has a best friend she shares most everything with including a sci-fi fandom, and a nice girl bully at school who is just trying to be "helpful" with awful backhanded comments about JP's weight. Enter, the tree house. JP escapes to it in her neighbor's yard only to find that one of the paintings on the inside walls as a time travel portal. Opening the painted door deposits JP a few days into the future. She experiences everything in the intervening time only she doesn't remember anything during the skips. At first, she uses them to avoid the mundane like a humiliating gym test at school, then for the tragic like dealing with the details of her Pop Pop's illness until she's even missing out on the good things in life by trying to avoid the bad. This book asks big questions about what it means to truly live and be present in our lives, not only for us as individuals, but for the people we love and care about. Like if your own grandparent's "you got to take the good with the bad" saying gave you a soft hug in book form. It is extraordinary, and makes me want to read every word Leah Stecher ever writes. Some content notes in deciding whether it is the right time for your MG reader to pick this one up: there is a lot of fat-shaming on the page from certain characters and negative self-talk from JP concerning her body image. It is all dealt with directly in the story in a way that I found healing as a reader, but it is something to keep in mind depending on where an individual is currently sitting with these issues. Finally, for any writers out there, when people talk about "voice" - this book is what they're talking about. A master class in tween / young teen voice. HIGHLY RECOMMEND. Thank you to the publisher for the chance to read early!


original:
Fantastic middle grade novel - review to follow. ARC read.

[Kelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of this book, I really didn’t care for. There were SO many details about “Admiral K”, which is a fictional comic book/tv show/movie that the characters love, as well as details about a fictional soap opera that Pop Pop loves. This has become a pet peeve of mine in books. I don’t like so much text wasted on things that aren’t crucial to plot or character development, especially if the content written about isn’t even real. I found myself bored and struggling to care about the story.
Parts that were effective were JP’s self consciousness within her body and describing her relationship with clothing, her anxiety about middle school friendships, and the concept about time travel and how that could line up with any type of way to make yourself “disappear” from things that are painful or hard, like by using drugs, sleeping, eating, etc. The second half of the book was stronger than the first. I think my students would likely get bored and put it down because of the slowness in plot for the first half, though.

[Therearenobadbooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 A powerful and emotional read that even if we don't identify ourselves with the characters' phobias or passions, we still relate because the author did a great job making the emotions and events very relatable. Loss of family members, dealing with grief, depression, not copying well and making mistakes towards friends, family, or oneself, the sensation of loss of time that with some magic realism elements and grief disguised as time traveling, includes a magical door in a treehouse that allows her to skip three days (and almost all seventh grade) and avoid all bad moments...

A lot turns for the worse before it can become better, and when we think she can't lose more, she will, but then the author wrote a splendid redemption ending filled with wisdom and with many words that many of us need to hear at one point (or more) in our lives. It's a book to keep close to when we need to reread that wisdom. 

Thank you publisher for the copy.

[WKPL Children's/YA Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miss Lori gives the end of the book a 5 star rating, but the middle gets a 4.....so let's say 4.5 stars overall! The middle gets a lower rating mostly for the constant belittling of self from the MC. I understand that is necessary to show how her self-confidence is at an all-time low. Bullying and self-loathing has made J.P. resort to hiding herself in clothing, not eating in the cafeteria, not responding at all to bullies, not telling her mom/teachers, and relying on "magic" she found in a tree house to "take her away and avoid all the hard issues" that children deal with in middle school/junior high.
True friendship, forgiveness, standing up for what is right all emerge at the end of the book for what appears could be a start to a happy ending, thus the round up to a "5".
This book shows strong parental relationships amid death of a loved one and divorce. I HIGHLY recommend this book to middle grade readers through junior high.

[LPMS Library · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novel sat with me for a little bit after reading it but not in an overwhelmingly good way. While the overall plot is compelling (I mean, who wouldn't want a time-traveling tree-house?) the ending left me desiring so much more of a conclusion.

The Things We Miss is an honest representation of middle school and of life - whereas life is full of moments that don't work out or that we cringe to look back on - but it is also difficult to read when the main character, J.P., makes so many mistakes despite the continuous blaringly-good advice of her best friend and constant attempts by her family members to talk about her challenges. Despite numerous moments of "maybe I shouldn't be doing this", J.P.s complete unwillingess to face reality drained my empathy for her and made her more dis-likable as the novel progressed.

In the end, the novel felt just sort of "meh" - which is how, I suppose, many middle schoolers feel about their years in middle school.

[Jeni Enjaian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book hits hard. Stecher uses the science fiction trop of time travel to show the profound effects of trauma and grief. In this story, the main character discovers a door in her treehouse that if she enters she can skip forward three days. Her body continues on and behaves normally but when she returns she has no memory of that time. This door appears at a time when the main character starts to struggle with the loss of her father as well as the near loss of her beloved grandfather who has just finished chemotherapy. At first her best friend shows interest in the phenomenon but starts to pull away as she uses the door more and more, missing his own struggles. Then things start to go wrong and her choices lead her to missing incredibly important and heartbreaking events. The main character clearly struggles with depression, embodied by the treehouse door, a technique used so well by the author. This is a difficult but critically needed work.