30 Days of No Gossip

Maddie and Vi have been best friends since birth because their mothers met in the hospital and became best friends themselves. Now that they are in seventh grade, Maddie has found a sure fire way to gain popularity-- she's the school's top gossip, handing out an unofficial newsletter at lunch and keeping tabs of all of the romances and scandals. Vi isn't thrilled with this, but friends Sydney and Jessica encourage Maddie's obsession with knowing what is going on. When Maddie tells Vi's crush that she likes him, and the rest of the school quickly finds out, Vi is ready to quite being friends... unless Maddie can promise NOT to gossip for 30 days. Maddie doesn't want to, but values Vi's friendship enough that she agrees. Maddie finds out very quickly that this is harder than it seems. Everything she talks about seems to be gossip, and even when she doesn't say anything, people take her silence in different ways and make up their own stories. Maddie comes across an enormous piece of news that she can't share even though it affects the whole school and could be a really good opportunity for Vi to showcase her interior decorating skills, but the news leaks out anyway and causes all sorts of complications.

This was a very accurate portrayal of middle school friendships, which have a horrible way of changing in a variety of horrible ways as girls learn how they fit into school society and who they really want to be. Vi and Maddie's different views of gossip, the nature of friendship, and dealing with boys are all topics that are of concern to students at this age. I especially enjoyed that Maddie really tried to make her friend happy, found she couldn't do exactly what was expected of her, but tried to be a good friend anyway. The Mix paperbacks are popular with my students, and a good choice if you know a middle school girl who needs a good beach read!