Next Door to Happy by Allison Weiser Strout || Featuring Friendship and Family Bonds

Next Door to Happy

Twelve-year-old Violet Crane is an only child in a lonely household who longs to be part of the gregarious family that's just moved in next door.

With a mother struggling with anxiety, a father who recently moved out, and no siblings to commiserate with, socially awkward Violet Crane feels like she is starting middle school with less going for herself than that of your average kid.
When the rambunctious Walker family moves in next door, Violet can't help but wish she could become a part of their household--everyone and everything seems so normal compared to her own.

After she meets them, Violet falls in love with all five Walker siblings and especially with Mrs. Walker, who is nothing like her own mother. Violet and Reggie, the black sheep of the Walker family, find that they have an easy understanding of each other, and it doesn't hurt that they are in the same grade at school.

But then Violet overhears a conversation between Reggie and his mother in which she tells him that she doesn't feel like Violet is an appropriate friend. Violet is devastated until she faces a truth--no person, family or friendship is perfect--and realizes just how lucky she is.

Content Tags:

Perfect for readers who want:

• Lots of emotion and feels
• Coming-of-age about acceptance and finding your place
• Friendship bonds
• Neurodiverse characters
• Super cute sibling vibes
• Slice-of-life contemporary story

Many thanks to Margaret Ferguson Books and Rockstar Book Tours for an eARC in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

I was absolutely captivated by this book’s wholesome, colorful cover and the blurb that sounded like lots of interesting rep. Plus, as a single kid, it’s super easy for me to relate to the idea of wanting to be part of someone else’s family . . . at least for long enough to have siblings for a while! So I was curious about Violet and her plight.

Next Door to Happy is a slice-of-life contemporary middle grade proving that the grass isn’t always greener. It’s got adorable sibling bonds and plenty of self-discovery and personal growth for the main character.

This book ended up not being quite what I expected. I can imagine quite a few kids who would love this sort of book, but it really isn’t my preferred type of story. It ended up being very slice-of-life, which left me wanting a stronger plot to pull me through. While the characters are cute, I didn’t particularly connect with any of them. That being said, I don’t think middle grade readers will have the same experience! I suspect Violet will be incredibly relatable to that age group, especially only children,

Meet Violet, whose parents have split and whose mother rarely leaves the house these days. All she really wants is to belong to a “normal” family, whatever that means.

Most kids are desperate to fit in, especially at Violet’s age. So it makes sense that she wants what she thinks would gain her social acceptance (even though we all know being normal is overrated). Violet is disappointed and embarrassed by her mother, who is “weird” in the eyes of the other parents, is often awkward, and who rarely leaves the house anymore. To the point where Violet feels she needs to lie to people when they ask about her mother. Not a great situation.

The solution, of course, to her young mind, is that she can just find another family with loving parents and siblings that she can play with. Which is why when she sees the new neighbors playing outside with each other, it seems like the perfect opportunity. After all, the Walkers appear to be the textbook perfectly family, and who wouldn’t want that?

On the surface, the Walker family appears to be everything Violet ever wanted, with their many kids and two present (married) parents. In fact, once you meet them, it’s easy to understand why Violet is so desperate to spend time with the family.

There are five children: the oldest, TJ; the twins, Daisy and Rose; Chloe; and Reggie. It’s definitely a full house, and a far cry from Violet’s one-child family. The siblings are all adorable and charming in their own little way. Violet naturally fits in with the twins, since they all share flower names, and they’re close enough in age.

This is a family that even the reader will struggle not to fall in love with (at least at first). They’ve obviously got their stuff together. They spend time together, even during sit-down meals in the evening. The children play together and look after each other. There’s funny banter and teasing and all the fun things you expect to find in a larger family. Which sounds perfect, right?

Except Violet’s learning that bigger isn’t always better, and sometimes what you have is just what you need. Because even though the Walker family seems like a dream come true, the more she learns about them, the more apparent it becomes that that’s not quite the case. Which is a conclusion older readers will come to immediately (because we’re oh-so-wise and probably have also gone through Violet’s same journey already). But it’s a struggle that middle grade readers will likely relate to, because who doesn’t want something they don’t have that someone else does?

The one person Violet connects with the most is Reggie Walker, who obviously is autistic, even though the narrative never comes right out and says it.

Reggie is “different”—a point which is stressed heavily in the story. He prefers to be on his own, even over the company of his family, and has a hard time making friends. It’s pretty clear that he isn’t like his brother, which he’s sure his mother wants him to be.

What Reggie is, though, is very smart, observant, and, most importantly, a great friend. He loves birds and birdwatching, and as he lists different facts about birds, it’s not hard to see why he would enjoy it. They’re pretty cool creatures.

The friendship between Violet and Reggie is definitely a high point in this book. Seeing them trying to navigate school and family together is so heartwarming! Even though they don’t always get this friendship thing quite right (hey, they’re learning!), they’re there for each other when it matters the most.

Violet is learning the hard way that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.

This is such a common childhood problem. I can remember going to my friend’s houses and seeing how they lived with their siblings and parents and wanting that, even as they did the same at my house, with my lack of siblings. It’s like the curly hair vs. straight hair dilemma. Everyone wants what they don’t already have.

The message of this book is fairly straightforward and simple, but the progression of the story as Violet realizes that maybe the Walkers aren’t the answer to her prayers is a great one. It doesn’t happen overnight, but the honeymoon phase definitely wears off after a while. Because, surprise!, the Walkers are just a normal family, with normal family issues (even if they’re different issues than her family has).

It’s a very wholesome, uplifting message that is slow to build but is so important for this age group!

While there’s definitely good rep in the book, it feels like the author missed the boat in terms of actually addressing it.

Reggie, for example, is obviously “different,” as everyone in his family says. The implication is that he’s autistic, but that’s never said, and it’s never really touched on. There are no coping mechanisms for him, no signs of how his family works to support his needs, nothing. Just the acknowledgement that he’s not like his older brother (or, even, the rest of his family).

The same can be said for Violet’s mother, who clearly suffers from anxiety and likely depression. Since this is a big point of contention for Violet, I kept waiting for something about mental health and her struggles and how she’s dealing with them, but it just never comes. Instead, it’s just something that Violet learns to accept about her mother.

While it obviously isn’t required in a story, I did wish the author had actually taken the time to better address the mental health rep, especially since it played such a big role in the story. I kept waiting for it, and when it never came, it felt like such a missed opportunity!

About Allison Weiser Strout

Allison Strout is a writing tutor for middle school and high school students. Next Door to Happy is her debut novel. She lives in New York City and Maine.

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1 winner will receive a finished copy of NEXT DOOR TO HAPPY, US Only.

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