Edited by Lauren Brown

Scholastic, $8.99, 128 pages

Middle school can be a confusing time and a guide would be really nice. The Ultimate Guide to Surviving Middle School was developed by Girls Life magazine in order to help girls navigate the halls of junior high. It covers all of the basics, from classes to boys to puberty, making it a great general guide for girls, especially giving those without an older sister a lot of great hints on how to survive the first few months of school, and how to navigate through some of those times where you just do not want to talk to your parents about things.

This book makes a great stepping stone to parent/daughter conversations and encourages them. However, it tends to use a lot of slang and it is more of a general guide for junior high. Although this encourages a girl to get into the mix and experiment, it does leave them hanging in some areas. More information on puberty and how to survive bullying would have been appreciated, but otherwise it does a good job. For a girl nervous about those first few months, and especially those without an older sister, this is a great book.

Jamais Jochim