The Secret Language of Girls by Frances O’Roark Dowell

This story is about two sixth grade girls, Marylin McIntosh and Kate Farber. These two eleven-year-old girls, who have been best friends for the longest time, have just started middle school. Of course, there’s the immediate question “how will I fit in?”. Once Marylin tries out for the cheerleading squad and makes it, it seems as though Marylin is rising on the popularity chart, and Kate is left in the dust. Marylin is being invited to boy-girl parties, has a reserved seat at the “popular” table, and has a new best friend, Mazie Calloway. Mazie is not what one would call a “good apple.” She’s a suck-up towards the parents and teachers, but when she’s around her piers, she’s mean, mean, mean. Kate made a new friend, too. Her name is Paisley. Kate and Paisley become great friends, until Paisley gets transfered to another school specializing for kids with high intelligence. When Kate suddenly gets a new boyfriend, everything changes, however. Kate’s starting to rise on the charts, and Mazie doesn’t like it. Mazie tries to influence Marylin to bring Kate down, back to the “nobody” list. Secretly, though, Kate and Marylin both with things could just be back to the way it was before middle school, when they were best friends…..

I think other people would like to read this book because it deals with a lot of problems that are commonly faced in today’s middle school world. Popularity, relationships, friendships, grades, etc. It had so many details and was very well written. At times, I felt like I was my own character in the book. I would recommend this book for teenage girls between the ages of 10 years old to 14 years old. It’s an easy book to comprehend, and very interesting for a teenage girl. It teaches you a lot about life lessons, and how to stay true to yourself. I think other middle school students, like myself, would enjoy reading this book.

Review by Holly S. – 8th grade

DMS Book Reviews