Small Town Pride

This was very sweet and I loved the depiction of Midwestern small town life (although: it's population 2000 and it has a McDonald's?? I GUESS). I appreciated that it was challenging but not cliched, and that it wasn't totally bleak despite the setbacks Jake faces.

Smallest nitpick: the video game Jake plays is very clearly Stardew Valley and like, are tweens big on the Stardew grind?? It doesn't really matter but it definitely felt like something an adult author who plays a lot of Stardew would include and less like something that will directly resonate with a lot of kids. But the point of the online game community itself will still work.