These tiny poems--rhymed, free verse, haiku, even an acrostic--cover the first year of junior high--sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. The unnamed female narrator sees the first jigsaw year as refitting and recombining old friends and new, old ideas and new. In Is It Monday Again? she decries dividing the week into seven square pieces / (five for school, two for me) and in Lunch Survey the myriad variants on peanut butter and are trumped by Zach's sushi. The mysteries of lockers and uncontrolled giggling are plumbed; as is the rapture of the boy you like liking you back: I am shining / from the inside out. There's a running thread about practicing the flute until at last she can make something like music. Sweet and on key. Illustrations unseen.

This accessible collection traces a girl's journey through the first year of middle school. In short poems in a variety of forms, the girl faces the challenges of making friends, figuring out the mysteries of her locker and the "endless corridor[s]," getting dressed in the un-privacy of the locker room. Though the too-young illustrations don't help, the poems are unpretentious and down-to-earth; the voice is believably that of a twelve-year-old.

In simply worded verse, George ( Little Dog and Duncan , not reviewed, etc.) writes of lockers and lunches, new friends and typical experiences, as she tracks a child's first year of middle school. She invites readers stepping across that (or any) threshold to embrace change: "Where do I fit? / Nothing is clear. / Can already tell / this will be / a jigsaw year" becomes, in "Long Jump," "I can do anything. / All I need / is a running start," and by "Last Day of School," "I am shining / from the inside out." Aside from a superficial poem about "the boy who's so tough / the one who scares us so much," plus a few passing anxieties, there's little sign of tears or fears here—just a growing sense of self-confidence, a promise of good things to come calculated, and apt, to buoy up young grammar school graduates. Illustrations not seen. (Poetry. 10-12)

Gr 4-7-Middle school, with all its trials, tribulations, and triumphs, is portrayed humorously and poignantly through the eyes of one girl. Some of the more mundane topics include a locker that won't open, being late to homeroom, carrying around a large piece of wood as a hall pass, and deciding where to sit in the lunchroom. The book also delves into significant issues, from making new friends and a first crush to teasing, gossip, and a bully who may not be so tough after all. The selections are short, mostly filling less than a page, and get to the heart of the matter quickly. The emotions range from confusion, loneliness, and fear to being nervous and tongue-tied. Amid all the angst and trauma are light moments of "chaperones/(someone else's parents!)/bobbing offbeat" at the school dance or a troublesome musical instrument, "after much practice/flute still suffers severe case/of laryngitis." Students will relate to this voice navigating "upstream," while they try to find their own place in the middle-school wilderness.-Kristen Oravec, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Strongsville, OH Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.