Sarah Simpson's Rules for Living

Starred review from February 4, 2008
Written as witty, off-the-cuff journal entries, this inviting novel takes preadolescent angst and doses it with pure heart. Like the heroine of Jennifer L. Holm's Middle School Is Worse than Meatloaf
, pudgy 12-year-old Sarah Elizabeth Simpson has a penchant for making lists, and these elaborate upon her many concerns. Her first entry, for January 1, combines a cool running commentary with no less than five lists, among them “Things I Do Not Like About Kim ,” “Things I Do Not Like About Jonah ” and New Year's resolutions she wishes Jonah would make (“2. Sell the van.... 4. Quit singing 'We Shall Overcome.' 5. Shave”). Although Sarah's tone ranges widely, from resentful to full-out funny (“Bad Things About Getting Older:... 7. Getting asked on dates. 8. Not getting asked on dates”), her vulnerable yet take-charge personality comes through. It finds its sharpest expression when Sarah, acting from a complicated set of motives that the author wisely leaves to readers to untangle, says something wounding to Jonah's five-year-old son and can't undo the damage. Covering a lot of territory in relatively few pages, Rupp (The Dragon of Lonely Island
) delivers a story that both touches and convinces. Ages 8-12.

May 1, 2008
Gr 4-6-It's halfway through the school year and sixth-grader Sarah doesn't have much going for her. She's plain, overweight, and friendless. Her father has abandoned the family for a blond tennis instructor and left Vermont for a life in sunny California. Sarah's mother is preoccupied with her hippie boyfriend, Jonah, the widowed father of five-year-old George. When Sarah receives a journal for Christmas, she uses it to make lists of things in her life, believing that they "are a way of putting your thoughts in order." The resulting narrative consists of numerous lists linked by slim journal entries. As the book progresses, Sarah comes to accept Jonah, becomes friendly with geeky Horace Zimmerman, enjoys performing as Persephone in a school play, and even comes to terms with her father's departure. Happy endings continue when, unbelievably, Horace disrupts the play to speak out against world hunger, and parents and teachers greet his action with enthusiasm. This book doesn't work as well as other titles written as personal journals, such as Marissa Moss's "Amelia's Notebooks" (S & S). The story line is thin, the lists are boring, and the story feels a bit dated."Jane Barrer, PS/IS 111 Adolph S. Ochs School, New York City"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2008
Sarah exerts control over her newly chaotic life by writing lists in her journal: rules for living, resolutions (for herself and others), and all the reasons she dislikes her fathers new wife and Jonah, the man her mother is not dating quite yet. Vivid language makes this slim book shine and brings to life a cast of fully realized characters. Sarah herself is a grumpy delight who describes her mothers best friend as having lots of frizzy hair in dreadlocks, and she wears big clanky jewelry and clothes in loud patterns that are not flattering to her hips. Interwoven into the story is a school play in which Sarah plays Persephone, doomed to live half the year in Hades trapped by a handful of stupid pomegranate seeds. The play parallels Sarahs personal growth as she begins to enjoy her new life without worrying that a new hell awaits. While the journal format and inclusion of lists is hardly new, Sarahs strong voice and wry humor keep this novel surprisingly fresh.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)