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Juli Baker devoutly believes in three things: the sanctity of trees (especially her beloved sycamore), the wholesomeness of the eggs she collects from her backyard flock of chickens, and that someday she will kiss Bryce Loski. Ever since she saw Bryce's baby blues back in second grade, Juli has been smitten. Unfortunately, Bryce has never felt the same. Frankly, he thinks Juli Baker is a little weird--after all, what kind of freak raises chickens and sits in trees for fun? Then, in eighth grade, everything changes. Bryce begins to see that Juli's unusual interests and pride in her family are, well, kind of cool. And Juli starts to think that maybe Bryce's brilliant blue eyes are as empty as the rest of Bryce seems to be. After all, what kind of jerk doesn't care about other people's feelings about chickens and trees? With Flipped, mystery author Wendelin Van Draanen has taken a break from her Sammy Keyes series, and the result is flipping fantastic. Bryce and Juli's rants and raves about each other ring so true that teen readers will quickly identify with at least one of these hilarious feuding egos, if not both. A perfect introduction to the adolescent war between the sexes

Couloumbis gets the suspense going at a high pitch from the start of this gripping novel, quite a dramatic departure in theme from her Newbery Honor book, Getting Near to Baby. In the first chapter, narrator Casey describes her morning exchange with her stepmother, Sylvia; by the second chapter, Sylvia is gone. The woman's sudden disappearance will be as unsettling and incomprehensible to readers as it is to the 12-year-old protagonist, who is now completely alone (her father has died). As this intriguing story progresses, the mystery of why Sylvia abandoned Casey becomes less relevant than the girl's struggle to fend for herself in her New York City apartment. Sixteen-year-old Paulie, the streetwise foster son of the building's super, is the only one who has figured out that Casey is living alone. He hatches a plan to help her get money for food and rent, but requires her to take part in a robbery. Besides battling with her conscience, Casey must make hard choices about whom she can trust and whom she should protect. She remains loyal to Sylvia, although it seems unlikely she will return. At the same time, Casey becomes increasingly reliant on Paulie. Rather than drawing clear lines between villains and heroes in this modern-day survival tale, Couloumbis invents realistically complex characters, whose morals are tested by fear and desperation, and a world in which right ultimately defeats wrong.