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Cher-y-lynne {sher-uhl-lin} –noun 1. One who formerly sold and recommended children’s books at a bookstore; a specialist in young adult, middle grade, and picture books. 2. A para-educator at a middle school. 3. A struggling young adult writer. 4. A lover of chocolate and popcorn. Archaic: An Audiology and Speech Language Pathology major at Brigham Young University. Questions? Suggestions? Books you'd like me to review? E-mail me at cherylynne1 (at) gmail (dot) com.
This is a blog for my ranting, raving, and occasionally brilliant opinions. You have been warned. Enter at your own risk.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Book Review: Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls #1 Moving Day by Meg Cabot


Cabot, Meg. Allie Finkle’s Rules for Girls #1: Moving Day. New York: Scholastic 2008.

Science has a lot of rules (like the one about gravity). So does math (like that five minus three will always be two. That is a rule).
That’s why I like science and math. You know where you stand with them, rulewise.
What I’m not so crazy about is everything else. Because there are no rules for everything else.
There are no rules, for instance, for friendship. I mean besides the about Treat your friends the way you’d want them to treat you, which I’ve already broken about a million times. I like earlier today, when my best friend, Mary Kay Shiner, and I were making the strawberry frosting for her birthday cupcakes...

Allie Finkle likes rules. And since friendship doesn’t have rules, she decides to start writing a collection of rules for being friends. Rule #1: Never stick a spatula down your best friend’s throat.
Then Allie’s parents announce that they’re moving. New school, new friends, new house. Well, actually, it’s a disgusting old house that her parents want to fix up.
Shouldn’t there be a rule against that?


My favorite, Meg Cabot, writing a middle grade series. Instant love. Now, the reading level on the back says that this is on about a fifth grade reading level, but the main character is only in fourth grade. That means it's a great choice for the younger girls that are on a higher reading level.


This novel is fun and funny. Girls will love it. It's perfect for the crowd that loved the Junie B. Jones and Ramona books. Allie is witty and fun to watch. I adore her. Now, she is a little sassy and a little bratty, but not more so than Junie B.


The only real problem I had with the book was one of the rules that kept returning as a running gag:

Always wear a helmet when you’re skateboarding because if a car hits you, your brain will splat open, and kids like me will spend their time waiting for the cars to go by so they can cross the street looking for bits of your brain the ambulance might have left behind in the bushes.


I thought this might be a little graphic for the younger crowd. She jokes about it, and tries to make it funny, but I didn't think it was.


But aside from that, I loved it. I really did. This is one of my top recommends for this age group.


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