Finally

By Wendy Mass
Rating: 3 3/4 stars

Rory has been waiting forever to turn 12 because once she is, her overprotective parents will finally have to give in to her list.  Like getting a cell phone, staying home alone, wearing make up, getting contact lenses, and going to a boy-girl party.  Then, FINALLY Rory's birthday arrives, and her parents have no choice to let her start checking off the list.  But as Rory starts doing all of the things she thought would be so wonderful and important, she finds that getting contacts or wearing makeup aren't quite as easy to do as she thought they'd be.  Especially when it turns out you are allergic to make up or can't put those wonderful contacts in your eyes.  Working her way through her list is fraught with some rather disastrous and hilarious turns of events, but as she goes, Rory begins to realize that maybe getting everything you thought you wanted isn't REALLY the point.  A funny story that will appeal particularly to girls who are just learning what it means to begin growing up.

The Last Best Days of Summer

By Valerie Hobbs
Rating: 4 1/4 stars

Twelve-year old Lucy can't wait to go and spend the week up at Crescent Lake with her grandmother at her cabin. It is always her favorite week of summer and she is especially anxious this year because she'll be going into a new school in the fall and she and her best friend Megan want to be sure they are popular. She also is anxious to get away from Eddie, the boy with Downs Syndrome who was her summer job.  She can't even imagine starting school in the fall and having Eddie spoil her new popularity by coming up to talk to her.  But when Lucy gets up to the cabin, things are not what they have always been. Her grandmother is talking about selling the cabin, and the week becomes a roller coaster of ups and downs as Lucy tries to figure out who to be while the world keeps swirling and changing around her.  Girls especially will connect with Lucy as she works on that magical tween age when things that were once unimportant become all-consuming.  A solid story.