Horn Book (Sun Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2004)

The year Winnie turns eleven is full of tumult as friendships shift. She learns to appreciate a girl she had previously overlooked and to stand up for her opinions. Winnie's growing pains are heartfelt, and the balance of funny and bittersweet makes the novel realistic and readable.

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Offering a month-by-month account of Winnie's 11th year, this lighthearted and well-observed novel is sure to strike a familiar chord with girls on the brink of adolescence. On her birthday, Winnie gets her first pet, a cat she names Sweetie-Pie, who, in a later chapter, falls through a hole in the attic and has to be rescued from between the walls. Shortly before turning 12, in the penultimate chapter, Winnie snags her first boyfriend just in time to prevent her from being the only "single" sixth-grader at school on Valentine's Day. In between, Winnie realizes that she is drifting away from her best friend, Amanda, and actually has more in common with nerdy Dinah. Throughout, Winnie's altering perceptions of herself and her peers ring true. Just as realistic are her relationships with family members: two fairly tolerant parents, a younger brother named Ty, and a teenage sister named Sandra, who is experiencing some growing pains of her own. Myracle (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Kissing Kate) shows particular skill at delineating the ways fifth- and sixth-grade girls form and reform their friendships, and the unspoken feelings between Amanda and Winnie fuel especially poignant moments. Myracle reworks familiar themes in a narrative that remains fresh and lively, inviting the audience to commiserate and laugh along with Winnie as she advances toward her 12th year. Ages 8-12. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Feb.)

Kirkus Reviews

Myracle displays a good ear for the words, emotions, and angst of a tween as she takes young heroine Winnie Perry from her 11th to 12th birthdays. Oh, the changes—or, in some case, the fear of same—one year can bring. What's up with a best friend whose interests (boys, for example) suddenly exceed those of Winnie's and who just may be latching on to a new best bud? And is it really possible for Winnie to find friendship, areas of common interest, and a great jump-rope partner in the dorky girl who's always been on the periphery of the class's attention? Sure, contemplating change in your own and other people's lives can be scary, but Winnie learns, as she grows in maturity and self-awareness, that each month brings new adventures and, ultimately, the realization that change isn't all that bad. Girls will especially like this enjoyable novel that rings with preteen truth. (Fiction. 9-12)

School Library Journal

Gr 4-6-The author of Kissing Kate (Dutton, 2003) once again explores shifting relationships, this time for a younger audience. Starting with her birthday, Winnie chronicles her 11th year, as she spends time with her lifelongfriend Amanda, placates her grumpy teenage sister and her active little brother, and experiences her first crush. Life could not be better; except that Amanda is starting to slide into adolescence while Winnie is still firmly rooted in childhood. When Gail, a new sixth grader, attracts Amanda's attention, Winnie surprises herself by joining up with unpopular but friendly Dinah. The inclusion of details about the everyday lives of these girls-Chinese jump ropes, flavored Lip-Smackers, and dressing alike-will make this novel enjoyable, even for reluctant readers. However, it's the book's occasional revelation of harder truths that lifts it out of the ordinary. Winnie has a chance to take snobby Gail home when they are trapped at school during a rare Atlanta snowstorm. Although she has proven to be kind at other times, she does not invite Gail along, and this is the only time that readers will feel anything like sympathy for a character who is a bit too easy to dislike. More subtly, Myracle explores the hurts, small and not so small, of losing a lifetime friend in the same quiet way that Lynne Rae Perkins's All Alone in the Universe (Greenwillow, 1999) does for teens. Fortunately, the protagonists' discovery that love and trust can come from opening oneself to someone new compensates for such losses.-Tina Zubak, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, PA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

ALA Booklist (Thu Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 2004)

This light novel, which opens with an eleventh birthday and ends with a twelfth, recounts narrator Winnie's year as she reluctantly grows apart from her best friend, Amanda, and grows closer to Dinah, a girl she previously pitied. Her disappointment when Amanda becomes occupied with fashion and boys and finds a new best friend is deftly portrayed, as is Winnie's increasing respect for the awkward but kind Dinah. The stilted structure of covering one month per chapter, each with a main episode, creates a choppy pace that detracts from the effectiveness of an otherwise enjoyable read, but all three girls, and Winnie's sulky older sister, come across as fully rounded characters that interact in believable ways.