Amelia is familiar with the theoretical advantages and the all-too-real disadvantages of group projects. Challenged to complete a science-fair project along with a boy who does nothing but sleep and a fawning chatterbox who seems too eager to befriend her, Amelia feels trapped, infuriated, and miserable. The book's very approachable format is a lined notebook in which Amelia records and illustrates her experiences and reflections. Like other books in the Life in Middle School subset of the Amelia's Notebook series, this one combines school and family situations with first-person reactions metimes rational, sometimes emotional, but always believable.

Amelia loves science but hates group projects because they mean doing more work for lower grades. When she's partnered with an overly friendly girl and a boy who just sleeps, Amelia has to set boundaries and rescue their project in time for the science fair. Amelia's trademark conversational style, illustrated with her cartoons and vignettes, captures middle school concerns perfectly.