Review: Gossip From the Girls' Room: a blogtastic! novel (Cooper)

Title: Gossip from the Girls' Room: a blogtastic! novel
Author: Cooper
Genre: Fiction, Middle School, Friendship, Popularity, Gossip, Blogs
Pages: 256
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Sixth-grader Sophia just wants to be one of the popular students at Middlebrooke Middle School.  Unfortunately, her plans to accomplish this have not met with success.  Sophia and her BFF Nona did not end up in “super fun” elective classes where they could talk to cool kids. The after school activities they tried did not make them popular, just sweaty.  To make matters worse, Sophia’s mom ends up as a substitute teacher at the school. 
Now Sophia is determined to use her anonymous school blog to post gossip about the popular kids in hopes that at least her blog will be popular.  Things go awry when she posts something private about Nona, and she discovers that maybe the popular girl she is trying to bring down isn’t so bad after all. 

To be honest, when I was sent this book to review, my first reaction was, "Oh no, a girly book, with pink on the cover." But I was immediately drawn to Sophia's humorous voice, and her description of the perils of middle school. Written as a journal with illustrations and asides, this humorous take on trying to fit in in middle school will find wide appeal.  Hand this to girl fans of "Diary of Wimpy Kid," who will soon be looking forward to Sophia’s next adventure. I am one of those fans who can't wait to read more!