The Reinvention of Bessica Lefter

When you are in middle school, it is a dumb idea to expect good things to happen to you.

After an unfortunate incident at the hair salon, Bessica's not allowed to see her best friend, Sylvie. That means she's going to start middle school a-l-o-n-e. No one to walk or eat lunch with, study or text with. Bessica feels like such a loser. She wants friends. She's just not sure how to make them. It doesn't help that her beloved grandma is off on some crazy road trip with her new boyfriend and has zero time to listen to Bessica. Or that she has a ton of homework. Or that gorgeous Noll Beck thinks she's just a kid. Or that she's made an enemy of the hall monitor. Or that there are some serious psycho-bullies in her classes.

Bessica soon realizes that you can't have everything you want in middle school . . . and if she doesn't make good choices she won't have anything. Cheerleading? Instant friends. Alt crowd? Exiled to loner town. Yearbook? Chorus? School mascot?

Bessica doesn't care about being popular. She just wants to survive -- and look cute too. Is that too much to ask when you're eleven?

The Reinvention of Bessica Lefter will be released in hardcover on January 11th, 2011.

ISBN-10: 0385736886

ISBN-13: 978-0385736886

Recommended for ages 9 and up, grades 4 and up.