Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree (by Lauren Tarshis)

Unlike many kids in junior high, Emma-Jean is happy... in a way. By becoming a combination of "Super Not-Care Girl" and "Nancy freakin' Drew," Emma-Jean can closely observe the kids around her, even if she can't count any of them among her friends. One of Emma-Jean's best friends had been her father who died two years before. Since then, she has detached herself from the kids at school. That's why it's all the more surprising when Colleen Pomerantz, a girl in her class, confides in her. On a whim, Emma-Jean helps out Colleen, only to set in motion a chain of events that will mean Emma-Jean might have to leave the safety of her outsider status and join the chaos of Gladstone Middle School.

If only we could all have a friend like Emma-Jean Lazarus. Or at least be like Emma-Jean, whom fellow student Colleen Pomerantz thinks of enviously as "Super Not-Care Girl." Emma-Jean doesn't care what the other kids think of her, and it's a good thing too, because everyone thinks she's really strange. When her mom suggests they look up "strange" in the dictionary, they find an apt definition of Emma-Jean: "extraordinary, remarkable, singular." All words, incidentally, that describe Lauren Tarshis' new book.

Tarshis omits the hackneyed formula of the junior high melodrama where boys, crushes, and notes read aloud in class rule the day. Instead she addresses real problems kids face at school: friends who tend to bully or teachers who seem to have it "in" for you. Better still, the style of writing reflect's Emma-Jean's train of thought which is intelligent, logical, and humorous; the book is fun without ever feeling frivolous.

Author: Lauren Tarshis
Publisher: Dial Books
Publication date: March 1, 2007
Number of pages: 199
Hardcover price: $16.99
Paperback price: $6.99
Read Aloud: 8
Read Alone: 9