Sunday, February 1, 2009

THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF GIRLS by Frances O'Roark Dowell



They've been friends forever, but now they are in sixth grade and something is going wrong. This is the story of many friendships. Anyone who has felt their best friend drifting away will appreciate THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF GIRLS.

Kate and Marylin considered each other BFF's, but as sixth grade begins, their friendship is on a downhill slide. First there's Flannery, the worldly seventh grader who moves in down the street. Flannery mysteriously chooses Marylin over Kate, and the downhill slide begins. Marylin and Flannery refuse to speak to Kate and hurl nasty insults her way practically every day.

Eventually, Flannery starts hanging out with eighth grade girls and leaves Marylin wondering what happened. It seems like the perfect time for Kate to renew their friendship, but Marylin tries out for and makes the cheerleading squad and those new friends are just as mean as Flannery. They claim they don't have time for Kate who isn't allowed to use makeup and prefers basketball to cheerleading anyway.

Below the surface of the girls' new acquaintances, both spend time puzzling over how things have gotten so out of control. They both consider confronting the difficult topic, but neither wants to risk rejection.

THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF GIRLS offers middle grade readers a chance to experience a crumbling friendship that might very well be like experiences of their very own. This book examines the idea that we often know the right thing to do, but we don't have the courage to take a step in that direction. Frances O'Roark Dowell is the author of several other middle grade books - DOVEY COE and CHICKEN BOY.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

this book is great i read and i just kept on going ! all u peeps out there ib reccomend u to read it ! IT IS AWESOME!

Anonymous said...

i like it and if you had a bestfriend and you lost her read this book

Anonymous said...

Omg I can't believe she died at the end 

Anonymous said...

this book is really good but no one died on the end... it talks about friendship and how it all struggles "the kind of friends we use to be" is book 2 and it talks about there friendship over...... kate is my fav character in the book.

Anonymous said...

It's AWESOME!!!!!!! There's a book 2? I so want to read it. I love Kate too. I'm a basketball girl too and we have a lot in common!