What Every Girl (Except Me) Knows

Rating:
Summary: Above Average, but Not a New Story
Review: "What Every Girl (Except Me) Knows" is a really great book, it's funny, its sad, and it's got great characters. And even though this story has been told a million times, "What Every..." definately one of the better versions.

Gabby has never really had a "best friend" - she isn't exactly a loner, but she can never find that special someone that she shares a bond with. Lynette, the slightly crazy outcast tells Gabby one day "She's new and she'll cry." Gabby doesn't know what that means, but she soon finds out when Taylor comes into her 6th grade science class. Taylor and Gabby soon become great friends, spending the night at each others houses, going swimming together, and telling all their secrets. Except one. Gabby doesn't want to tell Taylor that it's her fault her mom died, or how she died. Taylor doesnt press, but she ceratinly wants to know.

This book is really good, but not anything new...the story's sweet and lighthearted. A short and easy read, I recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: The same but much better
Review: Children's literature is filled with stories of kids with dead or emotionally dead parents and the emotional angst involved with adolescence. I have read hundreds of them. Some are much better than others. This is one of the better ones.

Gabby sounds and acts real. She and her friends talk like preteens. They all have problems and they are all struggling to understand themselves and sometimes each other. Gabby is sympathetic without being pathetic. Gabby knows loneliness, but she also knows love and friendship. She has been an outcast and she struggles to understand why she is on the outside, thinking it is because she is motherless. She learns that her mother's death and absence are a critical part of her emotional make-up, but not the only reasons for her problems. The other kids around her have problems, too. Problems are a fact in any life.

Baskin has written an emotionally reachable book without sinking into pathos. The characters don't want to be pitied, not even Gabby at her worst moments. They just want to be understood.

This book is a great read and I will be very surprised if it doesn't get some recognition from various medal-awarding groups. I am wholeheartedly promoting it to the kids in my local library.

If you like Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's "Alice" series, you will definitely like this book.

Rating:
Summary: The Book That Every Girl Should Read
Review: This book is the best!! I couldn't put it down! Best of all it takes place in my town, so I know where the book is talking about! This book is about a girl growing up without a mother, and the hardships she faces. Like her dads girlfriend Cleo and her brother. The book is a true story!! The characters names are made up, buty their based on real people. The worst thing about the book is that her mother really died that way!! But this book is a REALLY good book!! I hope she writes a sequal!!

Rating:
Summary: The Book All Girls Should Read!!!!
Review: This is a excellent book!! It takes place in my home town!! She even came to visit our school! Best of all its true!! The characters names are made up and some parts are also made up...but the rest is true!! Its about a girl growing up without a mother, and the hardships she faces. Its really interesting! I couldn't put it down! Its really heart warming!! Best of all I can really relate to her, because I know where she is talking about!!