Shug

By Jenny Han
Rating: 3 3/4 stars
Reviewed by Noelle

Annemarie, nicknamed Shug, is about to start 7th grade and she's not sure she's ready to be that grown up. She feels very plain next to her beautiful sister Celia, as well as her mother, and she suspects that her neighborhood friends will no longer be quite so friendly in junior high. To complicate things, her mother is turning into an alchoholic and fighting a lot with her father and suddenly, Annemarie has fallen in love with her neighbor and longtime friend, Mark. How can she get Mark to notice her as a girl, especially one without any amazing qualities to show off? As Annemarie works her way through the beginning of 7th grade, she learns some hard lessons about family, friends and fitting in. But she also makes some new friends and has some unexpected surprises, including a first kiss. This is a good, realistic story for that tween who isn't quite as ready as some others to hurry up and get older.