Amelia's Middle-School Graduation Yearbook

Gr 5–8—Amelia is graduating eighth grade and is uneasy about entering high school, as she wonders what the future holds for her. She will no longer have the top-dog status of being an eighth grader; instead, she'll be a back-to-the-bottom freshman in a sea of upperclassmen. She is also afraid that her sister Cleo's notoriety for weirdness will be held against her. That summer, conditions get even more disheartening after she learns that her best friend, Carly, will be attending a private school and that her father wants her to study for her bat mitzvah, although she wasn't raised Jewish. As usual, Amelia turns to her notebook to express her emotions through writing and drawings. Instead of purchasing the school's annual yearbook, she decides to design her own, creating a memory notebook full of middle school nostalgia and life lessons. Planning and saying goodbye to Carly dominates the overall story, as Amelia works on a special surprise for her friend. This year marks the 20th anniversary of Amelia's notebooks; this latest installment features the familiar black-and-white marbleized cover and honest thoughts and expressions of a typical middle schooler. Amelia's theatrical language and naive-style illustrations are typical for a kid her age and ring with authenticity. Although the overcrowded writing on each page might lose some struggling readers, Amelia's chatty-rant writing helps to develop and sustain her character.