Posted by John David Anderson

Frost, Wolf, Bench, and DeeDee (nicknames) have been a foursome since the beginning of middle school.  They are not part of the "in" crowd, but at least they have each other to sit with at lunch and play dungeons and dragons every Friday night. Then a new girl moves in to school.  She is big and dresses like an army commando but Wolf seems to instantly have a connection with her.  At the same time the school bans cell phones, and the kids start to communicate with each other by leaving sticky notes on lockers and desks.  Some of the messages on the notes are positive or playful, but some are hurtful. All this shakes the foursome and starts to cause cracks in their friendship.  Frost, (the point of view character) just wants things to go back to how they were, but begins to realize that things may never be the same again.

I started this book not expecting to like it, but in the end I did enjoy it pretty much.  I was afraid that it would deal with some really cruel bullying (which is always hard for me to read) but Anderson keeps it toned down. The thing that is engaging about the book is that the author has amazing incite into the workings of a adolescent boy's mind. I don't know if any boy would really be as self aware at 13 as Frost is, but his observations about why the four (and later five) teens did the crazy things they did, were brilliant. I laughed out loud several times.  I kept thinking, "oh my gosh, I totally know kids that would have done that." I don't think this one will win the Newbery, but I will be recommending it to kids that are ready to move on from Diary of a Wimpy Kid.