If A Tree Falls At Lunch Break, by Gennifer Choldenko

I borrowed this from my school library. At first glance in didn't look all that interesting, but it turned out to be pretty good. I'd actually seen it a couple of times without picking it up, possibly due to the tagline on the back cover, which said:

"Two kids. Two lives. One big story!"

That sounded a bit lame to me, but it was telling the truth. There are two kids, who undoubtedly do have two lives, and it is a pretty big story, especially for a 216 page book. The two main characters are Kirsten and Walk, who share their points of view in alternate chapters. They are both in the seventh grade, which I think makes them either twelve or thirteen. Kirsten is best friends with Rory, but then Rory goes and makes friends with Brianna, a very popular girl who Kirsten doesn't like. Rory is then part of a group with Brianna and her friends, and Kirsten feels left out. Her very nosy mother tries to fix it for her, but that only leads to embarassment for Kirsten.

Meanwhile, a boy called Walker (Walk for short) joins Kirsten's school. He doesn't know anybody, but quickly makes friends. When Brianna plants their teacher's wallet in Kirsten's bag, Walk tells hims that Brianna took it and he and Kirsten make friends. Things are going OK, despite Kirsten's mother being worried and asking Kirsten about her "boyfriends" (Walk and his friend, Matteo). I assumed that she was just being nosy like before, but she does actually have a reason to be bothered by Kirsten and Walk's friendship. She thinks that Walk might ask Kirsten out, which would be a problem seeing as they're actually half-brother and sister! I didn't find that out until Kirsten did, and she wasn't even meant to know. Walk finds out as well, and decides he wants to leave the school and return to his old one, but in the end he changes his mind. It ends well, with Kirsten's mother waving to Walk's when they are dropping them off at school. Aw.

I give this book 3/4 starry stars on Madeleine's starry-starometer, which is very high praise, trust me. It would be even cooler if I actually had a starry-starometer. Do you think I could make one out of a cardboard box?

Madeleine x