Shug

First-time novelist Jenny Han has penned a realistic story that all middle-graders will surely be able to relate to.

Meet 12-year-old Annemarie ¿Shug¿ Wilcox. What¿s not to like about her? She¿s smart, she¿s tall, and she has lots of freckles. She lives in a small Georgia town with her popular, gorgeous older sister and intellectual mother. Shug is excited about starting the seventh-grade, but she¿s not prepared for all the vicious teasing that comes with the new school year.

¿Han¿s well-crafted first novel captures the aching hurt of exclusion in middle school, and the acute pain of vicious teasing.¿amp;mdash;Booklist