A “gold medal like sunshine” that Keya wins in the imagined race is barely visible. Many illustrations are too uniformly saturated, with the composition offering no clear place to focus. Keya’s glorious, lively black curls are de la Prada’s best visual. Keya and her family present white and Hooper, black. Aside from twice waxing poetic (“The kind of mad that starts / and swells / and spreads like a rash”), Adelman’s prose is dull and declarative (“Then we joked and laughed. Keya bursts out, “I don’t like you, Hooper.” It’s not true, of course, and they make up after a sweetly responsible apology. A fantasy race ensues, briefly cathartic, but Keya’s temper explodes after a knee-scraping tumble.
Hooper, Keya’s friend, offers a cheerful greeting, but Keya darts away. Protagonist Keya fumes when younger brother Nate gives Keya’s cereal to the dog and cuts holes in Keya’s favorite hat. Anger at a sibling gets taken out on a friend.
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