Planet Middle School

  Joylin, 12, has always been com­fort­able in her own skin. Then strange things start to hap­pen. She begins to notice boys; her for­ev­er friend and b‑ball bud­dy, Jake, begins to treat her dif­fer­ent­ly on the court; and Joylin and her best girl­friend, Kaylee, devel­op dif­fer­ent inter­ests. Joylin feels like an “alien” who finds her­self in “Plan­et Mid­dle School” by mis­take, “search­ing for that spaceship/that’s gonna take me home.” She tries to morph from a tomboy in bag­gy jeans and an old T‑shirt into some­one more fem­i­nine, try­ing lip­stick, heels, and a skirt, each with dis­as­trous results. That she emerges from these oh-so-embar­rass­ing episodes effec­tive­ly pro­vides reas­sur­ance and hope. Joylin’s voice is revealed in spare, well-paced verse. Her rec­og­niz­able emo­tions and actions become tan­gi­ble as she learns that appear­ances are not always what they seem; that stay­ing true to one’s self is ulti­mate­ly the most suc­cess­ful way to grow and mature. Young and adult char­ac­ters are plau­si­ble, lik­able, and sup­port­ive of one anoth­er. For exam­ple, when Joylin real­izes that the object of her infat­u­a­tion does not rec­i­p­ro­cate, her moth­er holds her “close/long enough for me to leave/a pud­dle on her shoulder,/long enough for me to feel/some of the hurt drain away.” The sto­ry is by turns touch­ing and laugh-out-loud fun­ny, and read­ers will appre­ci­ate the time they spend with Joylin, her fam­i­ly, and her friends as they live, grow, and learn as indi­vid­u­als and togeth­er. (School Library Jour­nal, starred review)