by James Howe
ages: 11+
First sentence: “The poems that follow are written in the voice of Addie on the inside.”
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Addie Carle is tall, plain, outspoken: basically everything a popular girl is not. It doesn’t really bother her; she believes deeply and is passionate about the things she’s outspoken about, and she has several good friends, though they’re all boys. What does get to her is the constant teasing, the names, the questions. Especially about why her boyfriend, DuShawn, is going with her.

For a novel in verse, where every word is carefully chosen, this book packs a punch. I haven’t read the ones it’s a companion to, but you don’t need to in order to enjoy Addie and empathize with her feelings. She is very much the smart misfit, a middle school girl who both does and doesn’t want to fit in. She’s finding her way, not only at school, but in life. True, that sounds cliche, but perhaps it’s because of the verse that it doesn’t come off that way. In addition, there are issues here: tolerance for those different, women’s rights, bullying… and yet the book is not heavy-handed. Howe does a masterful job giving us a book full of meat and character, and yet not lecturing us on what to think.

Now I want to go back and read the ones that this is a companion to.