💗 SAVE ME A SEAT by Sarah Weeks & Gita Varadarajan
HARDCOVER
Author: Â Christina Diaz Gonzalez
Illustrator: Â Gabriela Epstein
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Funny, heartfelt, and quietly powerful, SAVE ME A SEAT is a moving middle-grade novel about friendship, belonging, and finding your voice when you feel alone.
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Joe and Ravi couldn’t seem more different. Joe has lived in the same town his whole life, but everything changed when his best friends moved away, leaving him invisible in the classroom. Ravi is brand new to America after moving from India, and school feels like a confusing maze of rules, accents, and unspoken expectations.  Both boys are struggling to figure out where they fit - and both feel overlooked.
When Joe and Ravi discover they share a common enemy (the biggest bully in their class), an unlikely friendship begins to form. Over the course of one chaotic, courage-building week, the boys team up on a mission to stand up for themselves, take control of their lives, and realise they’re stronger together than they ever were alone.
Told in alternating viewpoints, Save Me a Seat captures the small moments that matter - lunchtime seating charts, classroom politics, and the bravery it takes to reach out to someone new. With warmth and humour, it explores themes of immigration, loneliness, kindness, and resilience in a way that feels deeply relatable for young readers.
- Explores friendship and empathy from two different perspectives
- Tackles bullying and belonging with honesty and humour
- A brilliant choice for classroom discussion and shared reading
- Celebrates the power of small acts of kindness
Perfect for fans of realistic school stories, this thoughtful novel is ideal for readers navigating friendships, change, and the courage it takes to be seen.
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