MIDDLE SCHOOL IS WORSE THAN MEATLOAF

To-do lists, instant messages, Post-it notes, report cards, newspaper clippings, school assignments, letters and notes-to-self graphically tell the story of Ginny’s seventh-grade year. Family issues, including her mother’s remarriage and her brother’s increasingly disturbing delinquent acts, share equal billing with friendship problems, changing interests and a first kiss in this convincing account of a middle-schooler’s life. Ginny’s efforts to follow uplifting magazine advice consistently result in disaster. Adjusting to a new dad turns out to be more difficult than she expected. Her former best friend gets the starring role in The Nutcracker. And her monthly bank statement consistently shows a balance of $5 no matter how many deposits are made. But the boy whose negative attention was the bane of her existence in the beginning of the year is her date for Spring Fling, and new interests replace her former passion for ballet. Humor balances the serious issues. Middle-school readers will recognize Ginny’s world and enjoy piecing together the plot through the bits and pieces of “stuff” depicted in Castaldi’s collages. A delightful collaboration. (Graphic fiction. 10-14)