Here's to You, Rachel Robinson

Rachel Robinson, a gifted thirteen-year-old seventh grader, lives in constant tension because of her older brother, Charles. As the novel opens, Rachel's parents, Nell, a trial lawyer, and Victor, a high school history teacher, have driven to the Dorrance School in Vermont to learn whether Charles has been expelled. A psychologist recommended boarding school the previous year, and Charles's removal was a relief. In English class, Rachel writes a biographical project about herself, carefully omitting anything about Charles. At lunch she tells her closest friends, Stephanie Hirsch and Alison Monceau, that her parents' trip concerns Charles but refuses to elaborate. The previous night, Nell announced she was on the governor's short list for a Superior Court judgeship, but a call from the school director then revealed Charles has refused to hand in papers or take exams. Nell instructed Rachel not to discuss Charles with anyone. Overwhelmed, Rachel retreated to her room to play flute, the one activity where she feels safe and in control.

Charles arrives home and immediately generates conflict. He enters Rachel's room, reads her biography aloud, and mocks it. Rachel fights him physically to retrieve her paper. He threatens to switch rooms with her and insults her peach-colored walls. At dinner, Charles announces he wants to drop out of school. Victor says that is not an option. Charles explodes, declaring he is "allergic to school." When Rachel's older sister, Jessica, shows her junior prom pictures, Charles cruelly asks if classmates still call her "Pizza Face," referring to her severe cystic acne. Jessica curses him in tears. Rachel lies awake listening to her sister cry.

On Mother's Day, the family visits Gram, Nell's seventy-six-year-old mother, who lives in a nursing home after a stroke and can no longer speak. Charles kneels beside Gram's wheelchair and fabricates cheerful stories. When they leave, he turns away with tears in his eyes. Rachel is confused by this tenderness from someone who can be so cruel. She recalls that after her paternal grandfather died, Victor went to bed for six weeks and then quit law to become a teacher. The family never discusses that period, but it was when Rachel began her anxious spiraling.

At school, a counselor explains Natural Helpers, a peer outreach program for which teachers have recommended Rachel. When Rachel brings Stephanie and Alison home to meet Charles, he charms them effortlessly, calling Rachel "the child prodigy." Her friends take his side, telling Rachel she should treat him better. Stephanie calls her "so intense" and walks off with Alison. Rachel copes by rearranging her dresser drawers and playing her flute. Charles later claims to be adopted, fabricating an elaborate ethnic heritage to bond with Alison, who is also adopted. Rachel confronts Victor, who confirms Charles was not adopted.

Relief arrives when Paul Medeiros, a college student and Victor's student teacher, begins tutoring Charles at home, meaning Charles will not attend Rachel's school. Rachel develops an intense private crush on Paul. Meanwhile, her pressures mount: She juggles Orchestral Band, All-State Orchestra, Debating Team, and private flute lessons while considering Natural Helpers and a run for eighth-grade class president. Jessica gets a job at Going Places, the travel agency owned by Stephanie's mother, Rowena Hirsch, and begins idolizing Rowena. Tension erupts when Jessica reveals Rowena recommended she take Accutane, a powerful acne medication. Nell objects, citing serious side effects. Jessica explodes and declares she wishes she lived at Rowena's house.

Nell is appointed to the judgeship. Victor's birthday dinner becomes the occasion for Charles's most dramatic move: He announces he is legally changing his last name to Rybczynski, the original family surname altered when his great-grandparents passed through Ellis Island, the immigration processing center in New York Harbor. Victor signs the document, reflecting on his grandfather's arrival in America. Nell is furious, viewing the name change as another way for Charles to separate himself from the family.

One Saturday, Rachel discovers Charles hosting a party in his room with beer, marijuana, and older kids, including Dana Carpenter, a ninth-grade neighbor, and Jeremy Dragon, a ninth grader Rachel knows from math class. Charles offers the younger girls beer and a joint. Rachel slams his door, but Jeremy follows the girls upstairs and joins them for a two-hour Monopoly game. A tense family dinner later erupts when Charles systematically insults each family member, calling Victor "the wimp," Nell "the ice queen," and Jessica "the potato head." Nell snaps, banging her fist on the table and lunging at Charles before Victor restrains her. That night, Rachel and Charles have a rare, unguarded conversation in the kitchen. Charles quotes Tolstoy: "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." When Rachel asks what he wants from them, he falls silent.

The family begins therapy with Dr. Michael Embers and signs a contract agreeing to respect one another's feelings. Rachel signs up for Natural Helpers, reasoning that her own family's problems give her genuine understanding of what others experience. She is also recommended for Challenge, an accelerated program at the local college, but hides the permission letter rather than showing it to her parents.

Victor persuades Charles to join a class trip to Ellis Island. At a computer, Charles types RYBCZYNSKI and finds the family's immigration record: great-grandparents Stefan and Leilah with four-year-old Josef, Rachel's grandfather. Victor blinks back tears and rests his hand on Charles's shoulder. Charles bolts from the building, climbs onto the seawall, and recites the poem from the base of the Statue of Liberty with growing intensity. Victor catches him as he jumps down, wrapping an arm around him as Charles hides his face, apparently crying. Rachel feels moved but angry at Charles for making himself the center of attention again.

Paul invites Rachel to a college concert, which she treats as a romantic occasion. The evening sours when Paul bonds with Rachel's twenty-two-year-old cousin, Tarren Babcock, after Tarren's secret relationship with a married professor is publicly exposed at the event. On the drive home, Paul and Tarren appear to hold hands. Rachel is crushed. That same evening, Jeremy arrives at Rachel's door to return the Monopoly race car token he pocketed. They walk around the pond, and Jeremy kisses her, saying he has wanted to since Halloween, when she came to his door reciting the witches' poem and he noticed the way her mouth twitched. They kiss four times. Rachel reflects that just when she thought the evening was a disaster, life surprised her.

As the school year ends, Nell is sworn in as judge and Charles takes a summer job at the local bakery, with no confirmation of which school he will attend in the fall. Rachel learns that Alison plans to run for eighth-grade class president using a slogan Stephanie originally created for Rachel. Rachel feels stung but notes she will be busy with Natural Helpers and Challenge. On her last morning, she packs Anna Karenina, the Tolstoy novel Charles quoted, and puts on Sea-Bands, acupressure wristbands for motion sickness, for the bus ride to music camp. In the kitchen, Charles is eating cold pasta. He asks her to kiss him goodbye. She refuses. They exchange familiar barbs, but the tone is lighter. Charles tells her she is developing a sense of humor. Rachel walks out the door laughing, heading toward the bus and the summer ahead.