“Change. It was there, after all” (Claire Swinarski, What Happened to Rachel Riley) 

This quote tells us one of the most important ideas in the book What Happened to Rachel Riley?, a fictional mystery novel set in modern times. It centers around a girl who is trying to find who she is while trying to maintain her social life through a world of chaos. 

Summary: 

The story is about a girl named Anna Hunt who moves from loud and busy Chicago to quiet and somewhat lonely Wisconsin. Anna is a big reader and loves penguins. She is curious and quiet which somewhat collides with ability to fit in and make friends. She feels lost compared to the rest of her family. Her mom is a professor at the University of Wisconsin, while her dad works as a lawyer from home. Her sister is an absolute tech genius who actually made friends at her school unlike when they lived in Chicago. She also feels excluded from others because she is a year younger than her classmates since she skipped a grade. 

At Anna’s school, whenever it was someone’s birthday, the school announced it on the loud speaker and people would cheer for that person. However, there is a girl named Rachel Riley who nobody clapped for. Not one single person. This led Anna to be curious about what happened to Rachel Riley. Once Anna dug a little deeper, she found that Rachel was once one of the most popular girls in school. Now whenever someone brings up her name, it’s almost as if they are talking about a criminal. The novel explores what happened to Rachel’s story from various character perspectives. It goes through different emotions of each character and different sides of the story to lead to the answer of what happened to Rachel Riley. 

Review: 

I love books that involve a mystery because I find that it makes the book a more captivating and interesting read. What Happened To Rachel Riley? did a very good job on doing so. It really dug deep on how being a teenage girl can affect the way you feel about yourself and others. The characters were believable to me and showed what really can and often does happen in middle school. I enjoyed the character and plot development. It felt logical and believable. As someone who hasn’t read a book by Claire Swinarski until now, I’m very impressed with the writing and the feel of the book. I felt emotions the characters felt while reading the story which made the book more enjoyable and engaging. The central theme was identity. Anna Hunt tried to make friends and tried to be engaged but she couldn’t get her mind off of Rachel. However, I did find that some parts of the book that should have been a big moment didn’t shock me the way I would expect them too. Yes, the book was very engaging but after all this constant hype going throughout the book you want the ending to shock you, yet I felt as if each part got more predictable. I recommend this book to girls in middle school and rate it 📚📚📚📚, an interesting and enjoyable read. (4/5)

Love, Saachi

GFB Ambassador