Back to School: How I Survived Middle School: Can You Get a F in Lunch? by Nancy Krulik

Jenny thinks she's ready for middle school: she's wearing her coolest sleepover camp tee; she's read the school handbook cover to cover three times; and her best friend Addie will be there for her every step of the way.

But when she happily meets Addie at their lockers, it's like Jenny just woke up on another planet. Addie has a whole new group of swim team friends from the hometown day camp and a ninth-grade boyfriend to walk her to class. Jenny realizes that her clothes are all wrong, her sack lunch is dorky, and she has absolutely no one to eat lunch with. Even memorizing the school handbook doesn't keep the eighth graders from sending her on a wild goose chase to the cafeteria.

As Addie continues to ignore her for her new Pop Club friends, Jenny is led to make up a new handbook for middle school.

RULE #1: A BIG GREEN T-SHIRT WITH A LIZARD ON THE FRONT IS NOT MATURE.

RULE #2: NO BROWN BAG LUNCHES.

RULE #3: ANYONE WHO IS ANYONE GOES TO THE CAFETERIA GIRLS' ROOM AFTER LUNCH.

RULE #4: PASSING NOTES IS COOL.

RULE #5: NEVER FEEL TOO GOOD ABOUT YOURSELF: SOMEONE WILL MAKE IT THEIR BUSINESS TO KNOCK YOU DOWN AGAIN.

Little by little, Jenny makes a whole new group of "non-Pop" friends and finds out that they have more fun than the social leaders because they're free to ignore the slavish rules and dress code of the Pops. When Jenny gets the courage to confront the cruel Pops leader publicly and incidentally douses Addie with purple yogurt, she finds herself the hero of the school. Sentenced to a detention working at the refreshment table at the fall dance, Jenny finds that everyone wants to talk to her, which makes Addie a bit jealous, a little lonely, and a lot apologetic. Meanwhile Jenny looks forward to having her new friends over to her house to keep her company while she's grounded.

Other books in this series are I Heard a Rumor (How I Survived Middle School) and
Madame President (How I Survived Middle School).

For real-life advice on preparation for middle school that doesn't involve purple yogurt, here are three timely and tested guides: A Smart Girl's Guide to Starting Middle School, Keeping Cool in Middle School, and The Middle School Survival Guide.