AGNES PARKER...KEEPING COOL IN MIDDLE SCHOOL

Agnes (13) is back, and this time she’s in seventh grade. Initially, she decides that the best defense against the rude eighth-grade boys and their rating system and the judgmental girls and their snobbishness is to fly under the radar. This seems to be working well until her best friend, Prejean, decides to run for class president, making Agnes her campaign manager and the center of what becomes a political and social firestorm. Add in marital problems between Prejean’s parents, as well as Aram, a boy in her art class who seems to have more than just friendship on his mind, and suddenly Agnes’s life gets a lot more complicated. O’Dell’s writing perfectly captures the painful and sometimes funny middle-school years. Agnes will once again charm readers with her sweet and generous nature, even as she navigates the new and scary world of seventh grade. Thoughtful and captivating. (Fiction. 8-12)