ALL THAT GLITTERS

Mackenzie “Zee” Blue Carmichael is back.

In this second installment of the Zee Files, a spinoff of the Mackenzie Blue series, Zee is preparing a song for her school’s art festival. Year nine has proven to be difficult as she adjusts to her new life in the U.K. and being the new student at a posh British boarding school. Zee’s classmates proffer coping tips: meditation, yoga, affirmations. Then Zee begins to see a therapist who encourages journaling. Unsurprisingly, her festival performance is successful. Zee is definitely a girl of the 21st century: She knows about social distancing, riding in Ubers, influencers, and self-care. Though characters appear to be in their early teens, they behave much older, with Archie—Zee’s crush—jetting off with his parents to Sweden and Zee zipping off to Paris for a day trip. Enmeshed in their upper-class milieu, characters seem removed from reality, and the story feels thin. Zee becomes Archie’s girlfriend at the end, although they barely talk throughout the narrative. Written in third person, the book focuses on Zee’s point of view, but, confusingly, the second half switches to some of her classmates’ perspectives for short periods. Zee is described as having “curly hair, freckles, and wide eyes,” and the cover depicts her as light-skinned. Illustrations depict her fellow classmates as racially diverse.

All that glitters isn’t gold.