Hey guys!!!!!!!!

I loved this book!!!

So, I'm starting a group book talk on the book [The Naked Mole-Rat Letters] by [[Mary Amato]].

Please join!!!!!

So far, I'm a group of well....only one! ( )

It was a good book I would definatly recomend it. ( )

This book is about a twelve year old named Annemarie, who is going through all the bumps and bruises of adolescence. From liking a boy who doesn't like her back, a mean teacher, going to school dances, and getting into fights with her best friend, Annemarie doesn't want to grow up. She doesn't like the cliques or how everybody is changing and she wants everything to stay the same. Shug is one of those books that you just can't put down because you just have to know what happens next. I really enjoyed reading this book because I could really relate to Annemarie, who is just your average twelve year old. I've been through some of the same experiences she has and she's also just a fun, funny character and very easy to connect to. When I finished reading the book I liked it so much that I really didn't want it to end. ( )

Because I have to read all the Caudill books, I randomly started this one. At first I groaned about how girly it was and didn't think I would enjoy it. Instead, I found it "real" and refreshing - the character I really related to as being the "awkward junior high kid" who was a late bloomer (reminds me of myself). It was really just cute, sweet and still dealt with some serious issues of friendship, divorce, dating, etc. ( )

Twelve-year-old Annemarie Wilcox--nicknamed "Shug," which is short for sugar--is feeling anything but sweet right now. She's entering middle school, her parents are constantly fighting (when they're not drunk or away for work), and things are changing between her and her friends. Mairi, Hadley, and even her best friend Elaine, a Korean American from up north, are eagerly venturing into the world of becoming a woman and meeting boys. But Annemarie wants nothing to do with that world...not unless it includes Mark Findley, her childhood best friend and the guy she recently realizes she's in love with.

Trouble is, Mark doesn't seem to reciprocate her feelings. In fact, Annemarie feels like she hardly sees him anymore, so busy is he with hanging out with other people. Instead, she's spending a lot of time tutoring Jack Connelly, which is too bad because they're sworn enemies and hate each other's guts. Annemarie doesn't want to grow up just yet, but she has to learn the hard way (like we all do) that it's a painful and necessary, sometimes heartbreaking, process with light at the end of the tunnel.

I love Judy Blume-esque books that focus on that painfully awkward and difficult transition right before puberty; thus, I LOVED Shug. This is a story that's full of characters that you'll want to be friends with. Annemarie in particular is a spunky heroine, unafraid to say her mind, the girl we all remember being back at that age and the girl we want to befriend. The supporting characters, too, are not caricatures but rather boys and girls (and men and women) with their own problems. I'm especially a fan of Jack right from the start; the dynamics between Annemarie and Jack are great.

If you want a growing-up novel that's more Southern than Judy Blume's and less sex-oriented than Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's Alice series, pick up SHUG. You won't regret it. ( )