Nuts and Bolts Girls - Middle School: How to Deal

A special thanks goes out to Jan Mart for volunteering her professional skills and Bruce Borden and Judy Stikeleather for their fabulous technical help. Thanks also to Amy Smart, Malcolm Harris, Max Fox, and Jon Gui and our devoted mothers: Laura Borden, Megan Miller, Judy Stikeleather, Edelmira Alcazar, and Melanie Yelton. Last but not least, we want to thank each other for being an amazing team of girlfriends on an awesome school project.

Text 2005 by Sara Borden, Sarah Miller, Alex Stikeleather,

Maria Valladares, and Miriam Yelton.

Illustrations 2005 by Chronicle Books LLC.

All rights reserved.

Book design by Kristine Brogno.

Typeset in Neutra and August Medium.

Illustrations by Yuki Hatori / CWC International, Inc. ( www.cwc-i.com )

The illustrations in this book were rendered digitally.

ISBN 978-1-4521-3273-0
The Library of Congress has cataloged the previous edition as follows:

Middle school: how to deal / by Sara Borden

... [et al.] ;

illustrated by Yuki Hatori.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-8118-4497-8 (pbk); ISBN 0-8118-4845-0 (library binding)

1. Middle schoolsHumor. 2. Middle school students

Attitudes. I.

Borden, Sara.

LB1623.M523 2005

373.236dc22

2004010822

Chronicle Books LLC

680 Second Street, San Francisco, California 94107

www.chroniclekids.com

This book is dedicated to Ann and Donna, Amy, Cameron, Kimberly, the Girls Middle School, and all of the girls in the world, including

................................................................. !

(your name here)

Middle school. Its not high school yet, but its definitely not your old grammar school either, right? Suddenly, instead of having one teacher all day, every day, youre switching classes every period. There are loads of class assignments to stay on top of. Cool new peeps to meet and greet. Your friends are changingand (whoops!)sos your bod. Not to mention that you still have no idea where to sit in the cafeteria.

I know youre one smart cookie, and youre totally looking forward to this major new stage in your life. But youre also a leetle , um, worried. Unless you have a cool older friend or sister to clue you in, how are you supposed to know what to expect? A girl needs a little guidance from someone who knows whats up!

Have no fear. Thats where Middle School: How to Deal comes in. Five totally real girlsSara, Sarah, Alex, Maria, and Miriamhave stepped up to help you navigate your new sitch. Theyve got a whole book full of tips and advice on how to master the new world of the middle school: juggling more classwork, keeping your fam life on an even keel, getting set with the changes in your growing body, staying out of the popularity trap, snagging an awesome, diverse group of buds, andof coursedealing with the mysterious and sometimes elusive boyfriend (or is he your boy friend ?).

This isnt just an advice bookits crucial knowledge that will keep you sailing smoothly through the halls without getting sucked under by all the new and strange changes life is bringing ya right now.

But the best part is, Middle School isnt written by someone who last set foot in middle school a million years ago. Its a book by the best experts of allreal-life middle-school girls who just went through all the stuff youre about to face! Even better, you wont just hear from one girlyoure going to get the totally true stories, advice, and deep-down dish from a whole group of cool girls whove got smarts, expertise, and experience to spare.

So get psyched to figure out whats waiting for you on that first dayand for the next two or three years of your life. Just thinka little while from now, instead of wondering where the cafeteria could possibly have gotten to, you ll be the expert helping all the other newbies find their place in the middle-school pack.

What could be cooler than that?

Love,

Karen Bokram

Editor-in-Chief & Publisher, Girls Life Magazine

The book that you are holding in your hands was written by five really serious, extremely wise, incredibly talented, and amazingly mature (hahaha) seventh grade girls. We decided to write a fab-a-licious book thats all about the things we wish wed known when we were grade school kids about to go to middle school. In other words, we seventh graders wrote this book for girls like you, so you can learn from our mistakes! We survived the incredible transition from grade school to middle school, and well tell you about the important stuff that we learned the hard way, from how to take notes to how to take off your bra without taking off your shirta great trick for locker rooms! Sounds cool, huh? Thats cuz it is!!

Love and hugs (and kisses),

Sara Borden, Sarah Miller, Alex Stikeleather,

Maria Valladares, and Miriam Yelton

We are not professional writers,
but we were professional middle schoolers!!

Good-bye, Grade School ... Hell-o, Middle School!

Advancing from one grade to another is a big deal. Whether youre going from kindergarten to first grade or from fourth grade to fifth, its an exciting and important change in your life. But when you move into sixth grade (or maybe seventh grade, depending on your school system), youre not just moving from one grade to the next. Youre leaving elementary school behind and stepping into that scary new place called middle school. Where you live it might even be called junior high. Now thats a change thats really big!

Elementary school was this safe little haven where you were with the same people for six to seven years. Except for having music or art on some days, you had the same schedule every day of the week, and you stayed with the same teacher for the whole day. It was all pretty consistent and routine.

But then time flew, and before you knew it, you were in a nice dress making a speech at graduation! You were saying good-bye to grade school, that old familiar place, forever, and moving on to middle schoola whole different world.

In middle school, youll probably have a different teacher for every subject, different kids in every class, and different things to challenge you each and every day! Middle school is a bumbling, jumbling, mixed-up place of classes, friends, boyfriends, and activities. Its a jungle out there!

This can be a very scary experience, and youre probably wondering what itll be like. You know, being separated from your best pal, having lots of new teachers, and crushing on that cute guy who sits in front of you in geography (man, dont you just love his haircut?). Soon youll be in a world where everyoneparents, teachers, friends, guysexpects way more of you than they did when you lived in your safe old grade school world. But as overwhelming as all these changes seem, they are perfectly normal. And being scared of these changes is normal, too. Were all afraid of change. But if you know what changes are going to happen, theyre usually not as bad, because youre prepared to face them head on. So read on and go get em, Tiger!