THE SECRET BLOG OF RAISIN RODRIGUEZ

Funny, dramatic, and varying in degrees of sharpness, Raisin writes a blog for her two best friends across the country. Starting seventh grade at a new school prompts her to record everything on TwoScoopsofRaisin.com, where she bemoans her lack of friends and her new stepsister’s cross-dressing poodle. Raisin is no shrinking violet: cool clothes and various schemes make the popular girls she’s madly pursuing accept her into their clique—briefly. Raisin’s downfall is her blog, accidentally distributed to the school, exposing all her unkind and embarrassing observations. Will the nice freckle-faced boy forgive her? Will the mysterious cinnamon-scented boy who hides his violin in a paper bag return her affections? Raisin never quite understands why the “alt” kids call the (snotty) popular ones “The Man.” A few truly sparkly characters (one named Sparkles—a boy, naturally) and groundbreaking directness on the topic of tampon insertion set this amusing piece apart from others of its fast-growing genre. (Fiction. 10-13)