  | Full Text Reviews: Bulletin for the Center... - 09/01/2013 Seventh grade continues to bring changes for Kate and Marylin, the formerly best friends who drifted apart in The Secret Language of Girls (BCCB 7/04) and discovered new relationships in The Kind of Friends We Used to Be (BCCB 5/09). Marylin is heading toward a crisis, as the cheerleading squad disapproves of her new boyfriend, the student council president, and in a desperate attempt to retain her status with them she promises to convince him to spend the class funds on new cheerleader uniforms. Meanwhile, Kate the uncompromising is denying how much she’s compromising for the boy she likes. Dowell’s examination of this pair continues to bring fresh nuance and insight to familiar middle-school dilemmas. Marylin is particularly sympathetically treated as the girl who genuinely likes pink, cheerleading, and approval, and the book wisely makes her leaving the cheerleading team (and peer group) not the climax of the book but the engine for her rebalancing midway through. Kate’s realization that her heart won’t always obligingly cater to her rock chick self-image is honestly explored, and there’s a truly touching secondary plot about her changing relationship with her father. The author continues to write some of the most authentic and faceted characters in youth literature, and she brings new perspective to the classic story of middle-school girls in transition. DS - Copyright 2013 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. School Library Journal - 10/01/2013 Gr 5–8—This realistic novel reveals the inner lives of seventh graders negotiating the demands of friends, crushes, and emerging talents. Miriam fights the shallow temptations of popularity, Kate's infatuation with Matthew depletes her sense of self, and Matthew struggles for control of his genuine-but inconsistent-feelings for Kate. The plot hangs loosely on a contest between the cheerleaders and the audio lab for student government funds, but it's the characters who drive the story. They battle their consciences, reflect on the passage of time, and realize that their parents are human beings; they are poignantly bewildered by childhood's retreat. As Kate thinks while pondering the stars one evening, "Life really isn't about fun anymore. It's about bigger things now." The cover will entice children to this breezy story, but the depth of feeling will make them remember it. The third book in the trilogy, The Sound of Your Voice also succeeds on its own.—Denise Ryan, Middlesex Middle School, Darien, CT - Copyright 2013 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Loading...
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