The Report Card (by Andrew Clements)

When she sees her best friend feel stupid because he did poorly on the standardized achievement tests, she decides to protest grades by getting low ones. But the attention this draws from her parents and the school leads to her secret being revealed, and her worst fears being realized: her school wants her in the gifted program, her parents want her in an exclusive academy, and everyone starts treating her differently. Perhaps a school-wide testing protest is the answer.

No one does school stories better than former teacher Andrew Clements. He knows the inner workings of schools, he writes for middle schoolers better than almost anyone, and his stories are usually effervescent delights that flow seamlessly along from start to perfect finish: not the way things do work, but the way they should. Here he has decided to go for more realism -- Nora's protest doesn't sweep the school, make the national news, or start a revolution. Rather than an unabashed triumph over the system of testing and grades, Nora accomplishes little besides being allowed to have some say in the direction of her life.

Since Clements has so clearly stated the problems with this system, some readers may find the ending disappointing, a rarity in his novels. But it may get both kids and adults thinking about the subject and, since he has provided no template for real change, wondering for themselves how things could be made different.