It’s the last day of summer before sixth grade starts, that monumental transition from elementary school to middle school. Allie Kimball and Tamara Thompson, her best friend, have only one more day before becoming (dramatic music) sixth graders. Evidently, rumors haven’t prepared Allie enough, because sixth grade seems to keep chucking surprises at her from the first day. As a stereotypical middle school novel, Allie and Tamara don’t have any classes together, and Allie starts to crush again on an elementary school cutie. Where does she fit in? With the glommers, “girls who never go anywhere alone” or with the norks, an awkward mixture of “nerd and dork”. I am a bit ambivalent as to whether I actually enjoyed the book or not, but read as Allie Kimball struggles her way through sixth grade, and despite the odds, discovers who she really is. Predictable, I know, but a fun read before entering middle school and facing all sorts of “strange new beasts” as Allie puts it.