Planet Middle School by Nikki Grimes

This is a typical "dealing with the changes that comes with hitting puberty" book.  Joylin is a lady jock, and her favorite thing to to with her best friend, Jake, is to shoot hoops.  Then suddenly her attention keeps getting captured by a cute boy.  She makes her first attempts at makeup and wearing a skirt.  Her period starts and Jake gets a crush on her other best friend (who is a female). She gets through it all with only a few painfully awkward moments.  The interesting thing about this is the writing style.  The chapters are all very short and the language is minimalistic and snappy.  It was clearly written for a different group than the wordy fantasy novels.  I actually think it is a book that a reluctant reader lady jock would be willing to pick up and read.  I think Ms Grimes hit her target audience right on. 154 p.

Can you tell that I am trying to read a larger variety than usual?  It is because I am at the reference desk a lot now and I find I am only good a recommending some kinds of books.  So I am trying to improve my potential for service by trying new kinds of books.