Allie and the Mean Girl: Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: The New Girl by Meg Cabot

Meg Cabot's brand-new second installment in the Allie Finkle's Rules series, New Girl (Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls) begins where the first book left off, with Allie dreading her first day at her new school, Pine Heights Elementary. At least Allie has made two friends who agree to walk with her to school, but her kindergarten brother Kevin embarrasses her by insisting upon wearing his Halloween costume to school. As Allie and pirate Kevin try to enter the building, she is confronted by the class "mean girl" Rosemary, who sarcastically remarks, "Halloween was LAST month."

Allie likes her teacher and the rest of the class, but Rosemary instantly has it in for her, and when Allie wins the right to represent her class in the grade-level spelling bee, Rosemary threatens to beat her up if she doesn't win. Allie takes to travelling everywhere with her three "body guards" "Friends and queens don't let each other get beaten up. That's a RULE!" Allie writes in her Rules for Girls notebook. Still, Allie continues to obsess over what will happen if she can't come through in the bee.

Just as Allie's about to freak out, a new problem threatens to send her over the edge: the mother cat who is having the kitten promised to Allie has the kittens too early, and she is worried that her chosen kitty Mewsette won't survive. But when Allie's anxiety overwhelms her at the bee and she lets her class down, her friends and family are able to reassure her that everyone makes mistakes. Then, in a surprise turnabout, Allie learns that Rosemary, too, deserves another opportunity to redeem herself.

RULE 12: We all make mistakes and we all deserve a second chance.

For a review of Cabot's first book, Allie Finkle's Rules For Girls: Moving Day see my post of Aprl 21, 2008.