PRINCESS FOREVER by Meg Cabot

Ever since the first PRINCESS DIARIES book I've been a fan. PRINCESS FOREVER is supposedly the last one, but I'm hoping she won't disappear forever.

Many things are happening in Mia's already amazing life. She is about to turn eighteen and graduate from high school. She has been accepted to a slew of terrific colleges, and now she must decide, her father is in the middle of a political battle as he runs for prime minister of Genovia, and it's possible Mia's senior project - a romance novel - might get publish after all. If all that is not enough, there's the upcoming prom and J.P.'s invitation to that prom that comes complete with a diamond promise ring. In typical Mia-style, she writes about all the excitement in her journal.

Many of the loose ends from previous novels are tied up neatly in PRINCESS FOREVER. Mia learns the real story behind her feud with former best friend Lilly, and she's taken totally by surprise when Michael returns from Japan as the famous, young inventor of the CardioArm, an innovative new medical device. Mia continues to champion the cause of her beloved Genovia and comes to appreciate all the years of Grandmere's princess lessons and royal advice.

Meg Cabot has satisfied this reader with her final Princess Mia installment, but as I said earlier, I wouldn't turn down a chance to see how things are going for Mia in the future sometime.

BOOKS WITH GREAT OPENING LINES

This month I asked my 8th graders to search the books in my classroom for interesting opening lines. Here are the books they found.

SOMETHING INVISIBLE by Siobhan Parkinson
Nobody ever blamed Jake for what happened.

DEADLINE by Chris Crutcher
My plan was to focus my senior year on information I could use after graduation when I set out for Planet Earth from the Pluto that is Trout, Idaho, population 943.

ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS by Brandon Sanderson
So, there I was, tied to an altar made from out-dated encyclopedias, about to get sacrificed to the dark powers by a cult of evil Librarians.

WAKE by Lisa McMann
Janie Hannaigan’s math book slips from her fingers.

WNGS by E.D. Baker
Tamisin Warner first saw real goblins the Halloween she was eleven.

THE LATENT POWERS OF DYLAN FONTAINE by April Lurie
I can tell you from experience that a jail cell is not a place you’d like to visit.

SHOCK POINT by April Henry
It was the rough hand over her mouth that convinced Cassie Streng that what was happening was real.

THE GRAVEYARD BOOK by Neil Gaiman
There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.

CHEATED by Patrick Jones
“It’s really simple, kid,” the investigator barks at me from across the table.

PROM by Laurie Halse Anderson
Once upon a time there was an eighteen-year-old girl who dragged her butt out of bed and hauled it all the way to school on a sunny day in May.

BORN TO ROCK by Gordon Korman
The thing about a cavity search is this: it has nothing to do with the dentist.

DOORMAT by Kelly McWilliams
My best friend thinks she’s pregnant.

BLOOD BROTHERS by S. A. Harazin
I hurry down the cold hospital corridor and barge through the automatic doors of the emergency department.

WICKED: PRETTY LITTLE LIARS series by Sara Shepard
Wouldn’t it be nice to know what people are thinking?

UNBELIEVABLE: PRETTY LITTLE LIARS series by Sara Shepard
Ever wish you could go back in time and undo your mistakes?

FLAWLESS PRETTY LITTLE LIARS series by Sara Shepard
You know that boy who lives a few doors down from you who’s just the creepiest person alive.

PERFECT: PRETTY LITTLE LIARS series by Sara Shepard
Have you ever had a friend turn on you?

THE DANGEROUS DAYS OF DANIEL X by James Patterson
I wish that I didn’t sometimes, but I remember everything about that cursed, unspeakable, unhappy night twelve years ago, when I was just three years old and both of my parents were murdered.

TANTALIZE by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Lousy idea, us sitting on the railroad tracks.

"WAITING ON WEDNESDAY"

Here's this week's "Waiting on Wednesday." (A soon-to-be available book that I can't wait to read.)

THE GUARDIAN by Joyce Sweeney (March 31)

I don't know anything about this one, but I do know I love her other books and so do my students.

Other Joyce Sweeney books - PLAYERS, WAITING FOR JUNE, and HEADLOCK. Give them a try if you get a chance.

STOLEN CAR by Patrick Jones

Danielle can't understand why her mother puts up with Carl. He is the latest in a long string of dad wannabes. He is a drunk without a job, and all he does is hang around their cruddy trailer while her mother works a thankless waitress job to keep food on the table. When Carl begins knocking her mother around, Danielle calls 911, but that only puts a stop to things temporarily.

Danielle's only escape is her best friend Ashley. Ashley's parents always welcome her into their home when things get out of hand in her own. She can count on them to offer hot chocolate and a safe, quiet place to pass the time until it is safe to go back to her rundown trailer in Circle Pines.

Evan who works at Halo Burger and wishes Danielle thought of him as more than just a friend, also keeps an eye on Danielle. His pathetic attempts at humor are his way of covering up the fact that he loves her and wishes that she would look to him for emotional support. Together Evan and Ashley begin to worry when Danielle gets involved with Reid. She's fallen for him before and gotten hurt, but she swears this time it is different and he really cares about her.

STOLEN CAR by Patrick Jones takes one fifteen year old girl starved for love and attention and puts her into the hands of a no-good, red Viper driving, pothead who uses up young girls and throws them away. The multi-layer plot takes readers into Danielle's rocky relationship with her mother, Evan's desire to help his troubled brother Vic, and Ashley's surprisingly mysterious past. Author Patrick Jones knows how to grab his readers on the first page and keep their attention right up until the last word.

8TH GRADE READ-ALOUD

One of my students suggested that I post the current book I'm reading aloud in class. Not a bad suggestion, I guess, so here goes.


I'm reading THE SLEDDING HILL by Chris Crutcher. I don't read this one every year, but I think the group of students I have this year can handle the more complex nature of this book.

Summary from the book jacket-

Billy Bartholomew has an audacious soul, and he knows it. Why? Because it's all he has left. He's dead.

Eddie Proffit has an equally audacious soul, but he doesn't know it. He's still alive.

These days, Billy and Eddie meet on the sledding hill, where they used to spend countless hours -- until Billy kicked a stack of Sheetrock over on himself, breaking his neck and effectively hitting tilt on his Earthgame. The two were inseparable friends. They still are. And Billy is not about to let a little thing like death stop him from hanging in there with Eddie in his epic struggle to get his life back on track.

THE KIND OF FRIEND WE USED TO BE by Frances O'Roark Dowell

The friendship adventures of Kate and Marylin continue in THE KIND OF FRIENDS WE USED TO BE. The girls were in sixth grade in THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF GIRLS, and now they are in seventh.

Marylin continues to hang out with the cheerleaders, although she is gradually beginning to realize that the controlling Mazie does not always have her best interests in mind. When Marylin meets Rhetta the new girl, she never dreams that they could have so much in common. Rhetta's gorgeous anime drawings of fairies remind Marylin of the stories she constantly imagines but never has the courage to put down on paper. Their unlikely friendship gives Marylin the inspiration to stay a cheerleader but not follow the crowd just for the sake of following.

Kate also makes some new and different friendship connections. Who would have guessed that Flannery who just a year ago had made Kate feel so awful could possibly become someone with whom she can share some of her most personal thoughts. When Kate decides to move from an interest in basketball to taking up the guitar, Flannery provides the support and encouragement Kate needs. Kate also finds another musical kindred spirit when she meets Matthew Holler. He is not like the other boys. He recognizes her need to be something other than a girly-girl, and he really listens and cares about the song lyrics she feels driven to create.

Both Kate and Marylin realize their friendship will survive the test of time, but they also realize that they will both need other friends to support them as their interests and needs change.

Again Frances O'Roark Dowell tells a story that will connect with middle grade readers. She covers the topics of struggling friendships, divorcing parents, and the need to be an individual - all subjects that complicate the growing up process. Both THE KIND OF FRIENDS WE USED TO BE and THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF GIRLS would be excellent additions to any middle grade classroom or library.

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.