Edgar Award–winning novelist Frances O’Roark Dowell explores the shifting terrain of middle-school friendship in this follow-up to the beloved The Secret Language of Girls. Kate and Marylin are smack dab in the middle of middle school—seventh grade—and they know they can never be best friends like they used to be. Marylin is a middle school cheerleader obsessed with popularity and hairstyles, and Kate is the exact opposite with her combat boots and hankering to learn guitar and write her own songs. Still, Kate and Marylin yearn to find some middle ground for their friendship—but it’s harder than they ever imagined.

About The Author

Photograph (c) Clifton Dowell

Frances O'Roark Dowell

Frances O’Roark Dowell is the bestselling and critically acclaimed author of Dovey Coe, which won the Edgar Award and the William Allen White Award; Where I’d Like to Be; The Secret Language of Girls and its sequels The Kind of Friends We Used to Be and The Sound of Your Voice, Only Really Far Away; Chicken Boy; Shooting the Moon, which was awarded the Christopher Award; the Phineas L. MacGuire series; Falling In; The Second Life of Abigail Walker, which received three starred reviews; Anybody Shining; Ten Miles Past Normal; Trouble the Water; the Sam the Man series; The Class; How to Build a Story; and most recently, Hazard. She lives with her family in Durham, North Carolina. Connect with Frances online at FrancesDowell.com.

Product Details

Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers (April 27, 2010)
Length: 256 pages
ISBN13: 9781442406162
Ages: 8 - 12
Lexile ® 950 The Lexile reading levels have been certified by the Lexile developer, MetaMetrics®

Awards and Honors

Bulletin Blue Ribbon
CCBC Choices (Cooperative Children's Book Council)
Bank Street Best Books of the Year
NYPL 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing

Resources and Downloads

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eBook 9781442406162

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Photograph (c) Clifton Dowell

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