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Mission (Un)popular by Anna Humphrey is the story of Margot Button, a twelve-year-old Canadian-Indian seventh grader living with her tarot-card reading mother, her stepfather Bald Boring Bryan, and identical triplet half-sisters who are two years old. At the start of the book, Margot's best friend, Erika, learns that she is being sent to Catholic school, and Margot is forced to face the first day of seventh grade alone. Desperate for friendship, she links up with a new girl named Em, who is from New York City and the daughter of a soap opera actress. She also claims to be a model, and makes it her personal mission to make Margot popular. At first, it seems like no big deal. Em teaches Margot how to dress, and  encourages her to talk to her crush, Gorgeous George. But as time goes on, Em becomes more and more daring, and Margot gets pulled into schemes that include ignoring Erika, torturing Sarah J., the ringleader of the popular group, sneaking out of  the house, and eventually getting seriously injured. Then Margot starts to wonder whether Em has been completely truthful about who she is, and whether she can even be trusted.

This book has everything a tween reader could want - a mysterious, slightly dangerous friend, comeuppance for a nasty bully, romance  with cute boys, and honest commentary on family conflicts. The book starts off a bit slow, and gives us a ton of backstory, but once it gets into the main action, the pacing is perfect, and the reader is kept in  a steady sense of suspense as the truth about Em slowly and deliciously unfolds. Margot's Indian culture, which she inherits from her dad, isn't really the central focus of the book, but there are still enough references to her race to strongly establish her identity as a character.  A few weeks ago, one of the list-servs I follow mentioned a need for more books featuring characters of color that are not explicitly about racial issues, and Mission (Un)popular definitely fits that bill.

There are a lot of books about middle school out there, but this is one of the few I've read that so perfectly bridges the gap between middle grade and YA. The book isn't as explicit as some of the YA books being written for older teens, but it's also more sophisticated  than a lot of school stories and friendship stories written for third through sixth graders. Fans of Lisi Harrison's Clique series, and Lauren Myracle's Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, and Thirteen Plus One, will also enjoy Margot's tumultuous seventh grade year. The events of Mission (Un)popular are far more dramatic than the lives of most seventh-graders I have known, but I think the drama is exactly what will appeal to that age group.

I was surprised by how much I truly enjoyed this book, and I hope to read  more from Anna Humphrey in the future. Visit the author's website and blog at www.annahumphrey.com. Mission (Un)popular will be published on June 14, 2011.

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The Last Little Blue Envelope by Maureen Johnson is the sequel to her 2006 novel, 13 Little Blue Envelopes. If you have not read the first book and do not want to be spoiled, read no further! I can't properly set up the second book without spoiling the ending of the first.

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Okay, on with the review!

In 13 Little Blue Envelopes, Ginny Blackstone received a set of blue envelopes, a gift from her deceased aunt who was an eccentric artist. The letters sent her on a tour/scavenger hunt around Europe, wherein she got to know her aunt, and herself, a whole lot better. At the end of the book, Ginny lost the backpack that contained her aunt's final letter, and was forced to return home without ever knowing what became of it. The Last Little Blue Envelope, which will be published on April 26th, tells us the fate of this envelope.

It's December, and Ginny is struggling with her college admissions essay, wondering what she should say and how she should say it. In the midst of this, she receives a mysterious email from someone named Oliver Davies, whose message includes an image of part of a letter. Ginny immediately recognizes the handwriting as Aunt Peg's and decides, instantly, that she must return to England and finish the quest she began over the summer. When she arrives, though, some unexpected things happen. For one, Oliver won't hand over Ginny's letter. It contains instructions for finding Aunt Peg's final piece of art, and Oliver wants a cut of the profits that will come from selling it. And on top of that, when Ginny drops in on Keith, he seems distant, and though he introduces a girl named Ellis as his roommate's girlfriend, Ginny suspects there may be something he's not telling her.

Things become more awkward when Keith and Ellis insist on accompanying Ginny and Oliver on their quest to track down the three pieces of Aunt Peg's artwork. The four characters embark on a European road trip, and follow Aunt Peg's final instructions to her niece.

Maureen Johnson has a fantastic sense of humor, as evidenced by her daily activity on Twitter, and that comes through so strongly in this book. She has a really unique writer's voice, and so many of  the lines in this book are thoroughly quotable. She also has a great talent for creating intriguing characters. So many of Oliver's quirks - that he can do card tricks and recite the entire first chapter of Harry Potter - were just so interesting, and they made me want to like him, even when I knew I wasn't really supposed to. I was also really impressed by how well Johnson writes in the third person limited perspective. I felt so close to Ginny's thoughts, I constantly forgot I was in the third person, and felt like I was experiencing every little twist and turn on the trip firsthand.

The ending did feel just a bit too easy for me, after everything we have to go through to get there, but though it felt neat, I wouldn't call it predictable. I was always one step behind Ginny throughout the book, and didn't guess at the decisions she would make in the end until they had been made. So while the ending may have been slightly too perfect, it was very fitting, somehow, anyway.

This was a really enjoyable read, and very well written. It reminded me a lot of Ally Carter's books, with the suspense, and the suspicious nature of Oliver's character. It also compares well to John Green's Paper Towns and An Abundance of Katherines, which both feature road trips, as well as Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, which is about an American girl's adventures in France. I'm a fan of everything Maureen Johnson writes, and

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