Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Best Friends and Drama Queens (#3)

Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Best Friends and Drama Queens. Meg Cabot. 2009. Scholastic. 224 pages.

The best part about the holidays is showing all the cool stuff you got to your friends. This is a rule.

Allie Finkle is back for her third adventure. In the second, Allie "tamed" Rosemary--the girl who was bullying her. In the third, Allie is up for an even bigger challenge. Cheyenne. The new girl from Canada who LOVES to boss the whole class around--at least at lunch and recess. Allie, Erica, Caroline, Sophie, and Rosemary are having none of it. At least at first. They don't want to be told that they "have" to chase boys around at recess and try to kiss them. They don't want to "have" to "go with" a boy or face the consequences--being called immature babies. But. The stress of dealing with Cheyenne is putting stress on other friendships. Can Allie and her friends "survive" this new bully?

I love Allie Finkle. I do. I love her family--her two brothers Mark and Kevin, her mom, her dad, her Uncle Jay. I love her friends. I love how "real" these stories seem. How authentically kid-like Allie's narrative sounds. I am curious about Allie's school, however, how relaxed it seems. How the kids get to go home every day for lunch. How they have morning recess and afternoon recess. How Allie talks about having time--at school--to read The Boxcar Children books in the classroom library. How the book doesn't really ever mention homework. (Of course, that doesn't mean that Allie doesn't do homework or study or take tests. But it just seems strange how stress-free this fourth-grade is.)

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: The New Girl (#2)

Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: The New Girl (#2) Meg Cabot. 2008. Scholastic. 230 pages.

Mom didn't think I should wear a skirt with jeans on my first day at my new school.

Allie Finkle is nervous about her first day at a new school. True, she's already made a good friend, Erica, and met a few girls with good potential, Caroline and Sophie, but she's nervous all the same. Will the kids at Pine Heights Elementary like her? Or will they think she's weird? Will they want to be her friend? Or will they laugh at her?

The New Girl is all about the many changes going on in Allie Finkle's life. The changes going on at home and at school. It isn't easy getting along with two brothers--Mark and Kevin--especially when one of them insists on wearing a pirate costume after Halloween. And there's some tension in the house between Allie's mom and Dad. He's invited his mother to visit them a few weeks. Her mom is NOT happy. She's still unpacking, for one thing, and the house is far from being a cozy home. It's definitely still a work in progress. And Allie's grandmother, well, she's something else. (I really felt for Allie at Red Lobster--when her grandmother was criticizing her for not eating seafood.)

But while many things are changing, some things stay the same. Allie is still super-super excited about getting a kitten. But even that comes with a surprise or two!

I liked The New Girl. I am excited about continuing on in this series by Meg Cabot.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Moving Day (#1)

Cabot, Meg. 2008. Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Moving Day.

"I like rules. The reason why is, rules help make our lives easier. For instance, the rule about not killing people. Obviously, this is a good rule.
Another good rule is Everything that goes up must come down. This includes helium balloons. People don't know this, but you shouldn't let helium balloons loose outside, like at weddings or the Olympics or whatever, because what happens is eventually all the helium comes out and the balloons fall down, possibly in the ocean, and sea turtles eat them.
Then they choke to death.
So really that is two rules: Everything that goes up must come down and Don't let go of helium balloons outside.
Science has a lot of rules (like the one about gravity). So does math (like that five minus three will always be two. That is a rule).
That's why I like science and math. You know where you stand with them, rulewise.
What I'm not so crazy about is everything else. Because there are no rules for everything else.
There are no rules, for instance, for friendship. I mean, besides the one about Treat your friends the way you'd want them to treat you, which I've already broken about a million times. Like earlier today, when my best friend, Mary Kay Shiner, and I were making the strawberry frosting for her birthday cupcakes. (1-2)

Allie Finkle has lots of rules. Rules on how to live. But nothing has quite prepared her for the challenges ahead. You see, Allie Finkle is about to move across town and that changes everything. She's losing her best friend (for multiple reasons). She's losing her school. She's losing her room, her house, her neighborhood. And maybe just maybe it would be worth it all if only...if only the house where they're moving wasn't haunted, wasn't so spooky, so dark and uninviting and ugly. Allie, when she's honest, will admit that Mary Kay isn't a great best friend. She cries too much. That plus she will only play one boring game over and over day after day. And the thought of making a new best friend, a great best friend is tempting. So is the thought of a kitten. Her parents have promised--actually promised--to get her a pet of her very own, a kitten--if and only if she behaves during this transition. If she doesn't whine and complain and act out about how awful the move is. But there's one consistent concern as far as Allie is concerned, she knows that the new house has a zombie hand in the attic. She knows her family's life at risk--her mom and dad, her two younger brothers. So it's a definite dilemma. What's a nine year old girl to do?

I loved Allie. I loved her family. I loved how this one was written. Allie's voice is unique and wonderful and above all authentic.

I loved, loved, loved this book. And I can't wait to get to the second book in the series.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers