It could have been TRAGIC!

I almost read Twelve before Eleven! I had no idea Lauren Myracle had started the Winnie series at Eleven! I had Twelve in my hands, ready to read because two different people told me I needed to read the series. Then the lovely Kelly told me to read Eleven first and disaster was averted! In Eleven we meet Winnie, on the day of her eleventh birthday and in the spring of her fifth grade year. She has a best friend, Amanda and some other close friends as well. The book is written in twelve chapters, each one a month of Winnie's year. I really enjoyed Eleven even though it was painful to remember some parts of what its like to be that age. Winnie's life goes through many changes during the year and not all of them are easy for her. I love her belief that "The only people who get rah-rah over change are always parents and librarians, not kids. " and it made me think of the PLA or PaLA conference I attended in which we were invited to wear buttons that looked like sheriff's badges and said 'I'm a Change Agent.' Me, I guess that I'm kind of like Tupac and agree that 'I guess change is good for any of us'. But I also agree that it is hard to go through, at eleven or at any age.