ROOHI AND NATE ARE NOT ON THE SAME PAGE, by Supriya Kelkar and Jarrett Lerner, Harry N. Abrams, March 3, 2026, Hardcover, $16.99 (ages 8-12)
A group of kids find friendship through a lunchtime library club in Roohi and Nate Are Not on the Same Page, by Supriya Kelkar and Jarrett Lerner.
Roohi and Nate are not friends. Their paths have crossed a handful of times over the years―and the outcome has never been good. Nate thinks Roohi is a snobby know-it-all, and Roohi thinks Nate is nothing but a slacker.
But that begins to change when they both somewhat reluctantly join a reading club that meets during lunch at their school library. The Lunch Bunch allows Roohi to open up about feeling disconnected from her friends on the track team after a broken toe sidelined her for the season.
Nate, who has always struggled in school, shares how tired he is of constantly being compared to his genius older brother. Despite their differences, and maybe because of them, Roohi and Nate form a friendship unlike any other they’ve ever had, with each other and with the other kids in the club.
As the Lunch Bunch gets stronger, though, things seem to be falling apart at the library. When the kids learn that their beloved librarian, Mrs. Sharp’s, job may be in danger due to budget cuts, they band together to find a solution . . . which proves to be easier said than done.
Can Roohi and Nate’s new friendship survive outside of the Lunch Bunch in order to save the place that brought them together? —Synopsis provided by Abrams
Roohi and Nate Are Not on the Same Page unfolds through the alternating first-person viewpoints of Roohi and Nate. Roohi is a great student but struggles in social situations. Nate is the complete opposite. These disparate traits are a strong setup for them to work toward common ground and offer lots of entry points for readers.
It’s nice to see a depiction of a growing boy/girl friendship that doesn’t involve romance. There’s a lot of middle-readers who aren’t ready for and don’t have an appetite for it. And this enemies-to-friends read focuses on friendship and how those relationships change over time.
Authors Supriya Kelkar and Jarrett Lerner also focus on the importance of reading and that idea that all voices, even those of students, matter.
Paired with doodles throughout, the text of Roohi and Nate Are Not on the Same Page is comfortable and inviting. Though 300 pages, the book feels a lot shorter. It’s a fun story with broad appeal.
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