Older Readers
According to Plan.
By Christen Randall.
Feb. 2026. 416p. Atheneum, $21.99 (9781665939843). Gr. 9–12.
For Mal Flowers, having an excellent senior year is dependent on The Plan, including serving as editor-in-chief of their high school’s literary magazine. The Plan exists so Mal and their soccer-star sister, Maddie, can leave their small town of Covington, Kentucky. That is, until Mal and the literary magazine staff learn they won’t have funding to run this year. Emerson Pike, a fellow staff member, suggests that the magazine staff pivots to create its own student-run zine, not approved or funded by the school. Ignoring The Plan and bending the rules is a challenge for Mal, who, as a fat, queer, neurodiverse, low-income person, already feels at odds and misunderstood. As Mal adapts to…
