A MOST UNCOMMON DEGREE OF POPULARITY

A suburban supermom finds that cliques extend long beyond the sixth grade.

Lydia Meadows’s life in a tony Washington, D.C., neighborhood is nauseatingly perfect. Her handsome husband makes enough money in his stimulating corporate-law career that Lydia can quit her less-stimulating environmental-law career without sacrificing the private-school tuition, dream home or kitchen-remodeling project. With her newfound freedom, Lydia is able to pursue photography, chair the Spring Fair at the school and focus on the kids themselves—second-grader Thomas and sixth-grader Erin. Best of all, Lydia’s three best friends all have 11-year-old daughters—and conveniently enough, the girls are best friends. But with middle school comes trouble, and not just for the children. When Erin’s friends all join a musical ensemble without her, their iron-clad foursome dissipates quickly. With a sullen pre-teen suddenly on her hands, Lydia intervenes and finds that her own friendships are equally fickle, with every mom standing up for her own daughter. Thrown into the mix are school politics, a rivalry between old and new money and the fact that Lydia’s husband is suddenly AWOL for a trial in Houston. Although Lydia places too much emphasis on her superficial world, she and her family also exude real warmth.

This isn’t high social criticism, but it’s fun and well-told, with a personable and familiar narrator.