AUTHOR: Meg Cabot
ISBN#: 978-0545039475
PUBLISHER/YEAR: Scholastic Press (March 1, 2008)
SUBJECTS: Moving, Friendship, School, Family Life
READER LEVEL: READER, SR.
Laugh Meter | not a comedy | giggles | laugh out loud | can’t stop laughing |
Fear Factor | no fear | needs explanation | cover the eyes | bad dreams |
Subject Matter | light : “G” | mild concerns | caution ahead | needs supervision |
Allie FInkle's family is about to make her move to a new house (that's creepy), start a new school where she doesn't know anyone (in the middle of the year(!) , and leave her best friend Mary Kay (even if she is a crybaby).
This is the first book in the series by the very prolific author, Meg Cabot. Cabot has published copious amounts of fiction for all age levels, including adults, but this is her youngest effort so far. I have placed this book in our Reader, Sr. reading level, even though it is quite long (228 pages), but the book dimensions are small and the margins are large. The book is written in a very conversational style that young girls will enjoy. Still, make sure your reader is up for a book of this length before you drop it in their hands.
I think 8, 9, 10 year old girls are going to eat this book up. It is written from a nine-year old's perspective, no holds barred. The characters include a mean alpha girl, Brittany, the aforementioned cry-baby Mary Kay, a follower named Courtney, two annoying little brothers, and parents who are out to ruin her life.
Allie, even before she gets the news she is moving, is having a hard time relating to friends, so she creates a book of rules to remind herself of how to behave. The rules run the gamut from, "don't eat anything red," to "treat your friends the way you'd want them to treat you," to "If someone is yelling, the polite thing to do is yell back."
Allie stumbles through her last days in her beloved old house and at her beloved old school and readies herself, albeit reluctantly and not without disaster, for her new house and new school.
The story is raw in parts, Allie steals a turtle from the local Chinese restaurant for fear it will end up in the Turtle Soup on the menu, and there is talk of a little boys accident when the car hit him and they are still looking for parts of his brain in the bushes.
This may make some parents a bit uncomfortable, but kids will LOVE it. And in the end, Allie almost always does the right thing. She prevails over the mean girls, stays true to herself, and give some lessons along the way to little girls about how to stay true to themselves. Because, unfortunately, our little girls are undoubtedly put in some of these same situations everyday. And our girls may relate to this story of how Allie handled it - maybe even better than us telling them our stories (although it can't hurt to try!).
Here is a link to the Allie Finkle website with message boards.