Middle School

June 1, 2005
Gr. 4-6. Five seventh-grade girls offer advice and commentary to other young women ready to begin middle school. They discuss social and academic expectations, friendships and bullies, boys and dating, personal expression through fashion and makeup, and body changes and image. The writing style is reassuring and casual ("keeping your family life on an even keel . . . snagging an awesome, diverse group of buds"), with frequent sidebars. The strongest sections are those concerning popularity, cliques, and body image (the condensed version: be yourself). There's also a dictionary of online chat lingo and directions for removing one's bra without removing one's shirt. Although this doesn't address sexual identity issues or bad family situations, the majority of rising middle-school readers will find much good advice here.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)