When You Were Everything

February 1, 2020

Gr 9 Up-Cleo met Layla in middle school shortly after losing her beloved grandmother. Her first memories of Layla are interlaced with a favorite song, Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World," and the same song plays when she realizes that their friendship is gone. References to jazz and literature are sprinkled liberally throughout the story. The themes of betrayal in Macbeth are woven into the dual time lines of then and now, reflecting story events. Layla was Cleo's everything, but the friendship has caved. They both say and do things that hurt each other. Now, they are forging new friendships and courageous first endeavors without each other. Change is a terrifying thing, but Woodfolk tackles it honestly. Cleo and Layla are flawed, but both have heartfelt moments that keep them both likable despite the horrible things they do to each other. VERDICT Teens need to learn empathy and recognize the effects of thoughtless words or actions on their peers, making this novel all the more important. Those who enjoy Jandy Nelson's I'll Give You the Sun, Julie Murphy's Dumplin', or Brandy Colbert's Little & Lion should enjoy this novel.-Claire Covington, Broadway High School, VA

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 3, 2020
Ever since she and her best friend stopped speaking, Cleo has felt “haunted” by the past. Things started going wrong sophomore year, when Layla, who stutters except when she’s singing, auditioned for chorus. The glossy girls in chorus don’t think much of dreamy, Shakespeare-loving, decidedly casual Cleo, and as the girls grow apart, they both behave badly, exchanging harsh words and spreading tit-for-tat rumors. Woodfolk (The Beauty That Remains) depicts an inclusive group of teenagers (Cleo is black, Layla is Bengali, other key characters are black, white, and Asian) with complicated lives: Cleo’s parents are splitting up; there’s a cute, smart new guy in school she might like; she gets stuck tutoring Layla; and making—and trusting—new friends is a challenge. The richly detailed first-person narration moves back and forth in time, opening with Cleo’s realization that she has to start living in the present. It’s a satisfying coming-of-age friendship story, with Cleo learning to stop seeing people as all good (her father, past Layla) or all bad (her mother, current Layla), and that change can be exhilarating rather than disastrous. Ages 14–up. Agent: Beth Phelan, Gallt & Zacker Literary. (Mar.)■

January 1, 2020
Grades 9-12 Cleo makes all the wrong choices, but she aches to be wanted despite her mistakes. So when her ex-best friend Layla makes friends with the popular choir girls, Cleo finds herself lashing out, only for it to backfire in the worst of ways. Eventually, the two decide that the friendship is irreparable, forcing Cleo to reevaluate just how fiercely she loves and to reflect on the ways she refuses the love of those around her. That describes the plot sequentially, but Woodfolk's novel moves back and forth through a short, occasionally overlapping time frame, documenting how actions of even the smallest size can end with catastrophic results. Readers will relate to the messiness of Cleo's life and narration, as she tucks into the not-so-nice thoughts that she has about some of the people she loves most. Family life, romance, and Shakespeare complicate and thicken this plot, giving reprieve from the intensity of Cleo's friendship struggles. There is a pleasantly mature ending here though, offering a perspective on friendship drama often missing in YA.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

Starred review from January 15, 2020
Relationships are complicated, but what happens when the bond that brought you solace unravels just when your parent's marriage falls apart? Cleo Baker wanders the streets of New York City, drowning her sorrows in jazz-age music and the words of Shakespeare as she mourns the loss of her best friend, Layla, a pain reminiscent of the grief felt for her late grandmother. It felt like fate when they met, and she thought it was in the stars for them to be together forever, but in sophomore year, Layla joined chorus and, over time, chose those girls over Cleo. Cleo was hurt but tried to give Layla her space...until she no longer recognizes her and instigates a vengeful feud. Now Cleo urgently wishes to overwrite the memories of their friendship, but that's difficult when she's assigned to be Layla's tutor. Feeling adrift, she works through the crumbling of her family, navigates a friendship that has grown apart, and learns to trust new friends and see them for who they are, not who she expects them to be. Told in the first person, Woodfolk's (The Beauty That Remains, 2018) novel seamlessly interweaves alternating timelines while making Shakespeare relevant to teens. The author skillfully voices the pain of unexpectedly losing a close friend and explores the choice to remain open despite the risk of future heartache. Cleo is black and Layla is Bengali. A well-crafted story of resilience. (Fiction. 13-18)

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