Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf, written by Jennifer L. Holm, illustrated by Elicia Castaldi

Ginny is determined to make the seventh grade a great year. She even has a checklist:
1. Get a Dad
2. Get the role of the sugarplum fairy in the Nutcracker
3. Look good in the school photo for once!!!
4. Do something with hair to make nose look smaller. Color?? Perm??
5. Win something. Anything.
6. Try to be friends with Mary Catherine Kelly
7. Get pink sweater back!!
8. Convice mom to let me go see Grampa Joe over Easter break
9. Get Henry to chill out
10. Ignore horoscopes whenever possible

Of course, some of the items on list work out while others fail monumentally and a few are re-worked. Despite Ginny's older brother having some run ins with authority, her Mom marrying Bob, a let-down in ballet and unexpected success at art, Ginny makes it through seventh grade and her thirteenth birthday having learned some lessons, willing to take some new risks, and ready to find out if eighth grade is all they say it's cracked up to be.

Holm's unconventional approach of using notes, magazine clippings, receipts, instant messages and bank statements to tell the story of Ginny's seventh grade year is enticing, inventive and makes for a quick and fun read.