Description
Things I need to do this year:
- Keep writing in this diary (don’t quit after one week like Aunt Lee and her yoga classes).
- Research how to control hair growth.
- Install a lock on my bedroom door
- Convince Dad I’m old enough to get a second piercing.
- Make new friends at high school.
Gracie Sparks has just turned twelve, which means she’s practically a woman. So why does her family still treat her like she’s five years old and allergic to independence? At least she'll be starting at Middleton Grammar soon, where she's sure to continue her streak of being cool, popular and top of her year.
Only Gracie is about to discover that becoming popular in high school isn’t that simple, especially when the only people she knows are her she-devil sister, Imogen, and the painfully boring Margot Pederson. And it turns out that Middleton cool girls definitely don’t shave their toes. Who knew?
Told through hilariously relatable diary entries, this is a story about growing up, standing out and (not) fitting in.
Review
Gracie is twelve and about to start high school. Primary school was a breeze for Gracie - everyone loved her, and she was top of her year, so she is not expecting Middleton Grammar to be any different.
Unfortunately, her three best friends are going to the local high school so the only people she will know are her annoying sister Imogen, who barely speaks to her, and the quiet and boring Margot, who she has nothing in common with. Not to worry though, Gracie is sure she will quickly make new friends.
But life doesn’t always go as planned! After taking a while to become friends with some of the cool kids, life is looking up - until Margot sabotages everything, and Gracie is kicked out of the group and ends up spending recess and lunchtime in the library all alone.
Gracie’s life is becoming more miserable until Amiel, who also spends time in the library, starts talking to her. When they are paired up in class to do a history project together, Gracie learns that there are lots of different people in her year level, and most of them happy to talk to her. Maybe, just maybe, she will make some new friends and really find her place?
Told in diary form, this is a wonderful story of growing up, family, keeping old friends and making new friends as you deal with changes in your life. It is at times absolutely hilarious and at other points really sad, and you will laugh and cry with Gracie. You can’t help but love her honesty, and the cast of very different characters who surround her, especially Viola (who would have loved being in a Jane Austen Novel), Amiel and Hani. For Gracie, high school has become a journey of growing up, independence and trying to figure out where you fit in the world and what sort of person you really want to be.
A fantastic book that will be widely loved by all those trying to find themselves in the exciting and sometimes scary world of high school.
