Nerd Girls

Gr 5—8—Self-proclaimed dork-a-saurus Maureen tries to stay below the radar of the ThreePees (Pretty, Popular, Perfect) —Kiki, Brittany, and Sophia. But when they have fun with Allergy Alice by sitting next to her at lunch and eating foods Alice is allergic to, Maureen shocks herself by grabbing the peanut butter-laden sandwiches and stuffing them into her own mouth to protect Alice. Of course, Brittany gets the whole thing on video, and Maureen's heroic act becomes fat-girl YouTube fodder. As if that weren't bad enough, Alice is so grateful that she and Beanpole Barbara start joining Maureen at lunch and decide that the trio should take on the ThreePees in the school's annual talent show. Though she's initially resistant to their overtures of friendship, Maureen finally agrees that the ThreePees need to be brought down a couple of notches when their harassment shows no sign of stopping. As the newly christened Nerd Girls prepare for their act, Kiki, Brittany, and Sophia ramp up the pranks, and in the final hours before the talent show, things look bleak. While the narrative includes flashes of humor and unexpected twists, slapstick events and caricatured characters prove distracting. Sitomer's middle-school characters' voices never click: phrases such as "meanie snobs" and a tendency to give every character a nickname are too juvenile for 14-year-olds. Maureen's often-caustic narration will keep readers at arm's length. What could have been a touching, clever friendship story is an additional purchase at best.—Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA