Rivers, Karen. The Encyclopedia of Me.

Rivers, Karen.    The Encyclopedia of Me. 

Scholastic/Arthur Levine 247p $16.99  978-0-545-31028-4     2012  ms    VG  Realistic Fiction

Since Isadora is grounded for the summer, she decides the best way to spend the summer before 8th grade is to write an encyclopedia based upon her family, her fears, her BFFs, her deepest desires, and the ways she navigates occasional betrayals.  Readers will identify with Isadora, who is biracial, as she tells of sibling squabbles, the highs and lows of friendship with her BFF, the newfound feeling of being attracted to boys, and how friendships start and stop -- all chronicled in A-to-Z format, with plenty of footnotes and cross references.  Humor slides in often and unexpectedly, even when the novel deals with heart-crushing events.  What may seem like random entries actually tie together to provide Isadora’s narrative during the eventful summer between 7th and 8th grades.  This is a novel in which parents are frazzled but concerned, and they manage to show their empathy for all their children.  Isadora grows as a person, realizing that friendship must be a two-way street.  She also faces her feelings about being less than the center of attention in a family of five that includes an autistic brother, and realizes that love is not always what the movies tell a person to expect.  This is a terrific coming-of-age novel that has a PG content in which awkward first love blossoms only into kissing and attending an 8th-grade prom.  The A-to-Z format may not appeal to all readers.           

Best Friends–Fiction, First Romance-Fiction                  --Lois McNicol