In Code Red, a stirring and thought-provoking middle-grade novel by Joy McCullough (Across the Pond; Enter the Body; Not Starring Zadie Louise), a privileged but lonely teen's eyes open to issues of social inequity and period poverty.
It's "no secret" that 13-year-old Eden's family is rich, although she would prefer a warmer family life over her "cold and lonely" fancy house. Eden's parents are divorced; her father is a pilot, and her mother is a high-powered CEO of one of the biggest menstrual product companies in the world. A growth spurt and an injury end Eden's elite gymnastics career, forcing her to give up online school and start "regular-kid school." Getting suspended for accidentally injuring a boy who was teasing her about her mother's presentation at their school's career day doesn't exactly help her stay under the radar. It does, however, lead to her spending her suspension week at a food pantry and resource center, where Eden learns that many people don't have access to menstrual supplies for reasons like poverty or homelessness. Eden joins forces with a creative and diverse group of people working to build political, corporate, and public support for an initiative financing menstrual products in schools and other public places. Feeling the urgency of the issue, Eden is galvanized to push back against her tense and defensive mother's resistance and create a social media campaign featuring the hashtag Code Red.
With themes of social justice, classism, trans awareness, and family pressure, Code Red is likely to enlighten, delight, and maybe even inspire middle-grade readers, menstruators and non-menstruators alike. --Emilie Coulter, freelance writer and editor