FLIRT CLUB
by Cathleen Daly
Two eighth-grade girls struggle with shyness but yearn to connect with boys in this epistolary novel. Annie, known as “Bean,” and her BFF Izzy, known as “Cisco,” write notes to each other all day at school, deciding to research the problem in their new, super-secret, two-member “flirt club.” The two girls blossom when they become involved in drama and take parts in the school musical. Izzy gets a real catch of a boyfriend, but what will she do if he wants her to eat lunch with him at the popular table instead of with her very best friend? Somehow you know it will all turn out just fine in this easy jaunt through the middle-school–female mind. Writing in language every bit as excitable as her characters, debut author Daly uses notes and diaries to follow the two girls through a year of turmoil, laughter, misunderstandings, embarrassments, triumphs and fun. By the end of the book, they’ve grown from little girls to young teens, but their friendship conquers all. Just the ticket for preadolescent girls. (Fiction. 10-13)