Reviewed by Allison Fraclose for TeensReadToo.com

In the summer before starting middle school, Clarissa (Rissa) Bartholomew begins to realize that she and her friends don't have much in common anymore.

Her best friend, Beth, whom she has been friends with since preschool, now insists on being called "Bethany," and talks incessantly about clothes and hairstyles. The other girls in their group seem to be heading in that same direction, while Rissa is stuck dealing with Beth's castoff clothes for a wardrobe and unmanageably curly hair.

On the day of her joint 11th birthday party with Beth at a local pizzeria (Beth's idea, even though Rissa's allergy to tomatoes forces her to order fried chicken instead), it dawns on Rissa that her friends just don't understand her anymore, nor does she them. When they begin to tease her about a boy they know, Rissa decides that the time has come to expel herself from "the herd" and declare her independence.

But being an independent individual turns out to be much more difficult than Rissa could have guessed. Apparently, telling off every friend she has just before the start of middle school is enough to turn her into a social outcast right off the bat. Even her strained attempt to become friends with a quiet, fantasy loving girl named Violet proves to come at a price, since the rest of the students have already pegged her as "weird."

The pressure that Rissa feels from her mother, who seems desperate to reconcile the friendship between Rissa and her friend's daughter, doesn't help at all. Rissa keeps wondering if she will ever find a way to show people who she really is, so that she can stop blending in to the background and letting people make her life decisions for her.

The strong, humorous voice of the main character leads the reader through this younger voyage of self-discovery. I loved following Rissa's journey, and I'm sure any young girl who has ever felt a need to be herself will feel the same way. ( )

Having told off all of her old friends at her eleventh birthday party, Rissa starts middle school determined to make new friends while being herself, not simply being part of a "herd." ( )

Having told off all of her old friends at her eleventh birthday party, Rissa starts middle school determined to make new friends while being herself, not simply being part of a "herd."