Shug is having a hard time adjusting during that critical summer between elementary and middle school. Her best friend Mark’s “boyness” has never been a problem before, but suddenly she begins to notice him in a new way. She even thinks he might be cute. Her mother drinks too much, possibly as a way to escape what she perceives to be the lack of sophistication of their Southern town, and her father’s business trips are becoming longer and more frequent. Even her older sister seems to be changing, becoming a little meaner and more exclusive. Each of the characters in this novel is well developed and has his or her own angst at this transitional time, even if Shug is not always aware of it. Her best friend Elaine is the only Asian American kid in school and deals with racism that Shug doesn’t even notice. Jack, the boy she is forced to tutor, turns out not to be the dumb redneck kid she thought she hated. In the end, few external problems are resolved, but Shug grows up just enough to learn to deal with the family and life she has. (Ages 11–14)

Annemarie “Shug” Wilcox is clever and brave and true (on the inside anyway). And she’s about to become your new best friend in this enchanting middle grade novel from the New York Times bestselling author of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (soon to be a major motion picture!), Jenny Han.

Annemarie Wilcox, or Shug as her family calls her, is beginning to think there's nothing worse than being twelve. She's too tall, too freckled, and way too flat-chested. Shug is sure that there's not one good or amazing thing about her. And now she has to start junior high, where the friends she counts most dear aren't acting so dear anymore -- especially Mark, the boy she's known her whole life through. Life is growing up all around her, and all Shug wants is for things to be like they used to be. How is a person supposed to prepare for what happens tomorrow when there's just no figuring out today?