THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF GIRLS
by Frances O'Roark Dowell
Atheneum
ISBN: 0689844212
Ages 8-12
256 pages

Kate and Marylin have been best friends forever. But as they enter sixth grade, their friendship changes. Kate continues to love reading, basketball and bugs, while Marylin dreams of kissing, boys and cheerleading. The friends periodically drift apart and then are pulled back together throughout THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF GIRLS.

As the girls hover between childhood and womanhood, and between being buddies and just acquaintances, their bond is tried again and again. Flannery, "the queen of eyeball rolling," moves into their neighborhood, wooing Marylin with her siren song of seventh grade sophistication. Marylin, who is working on a "whole new me," has changed her name's spelling (it used to be "Marilyn") and is wondering if her weird toes would improve with plastic surgery --- or, at least, a coat of nail polish. She goes out for cheerleading and starts hanging with the popular crowd. Kate, who does not yearn for romance, finds herself "in like" with a fellow basketball player.

Each chapter in this book is a perfect little story with the power to make the reader giggle or choke up. Early on, when Marylin and Kate rescue an orphaned baby bird, Marylin thinks Kate is "back in first-grader land." Feeling compelled to motivate her friend to grow up, Marylin tries to educate Kate on the probability of the bird's death. She worries that Kate will be devastated when the bird succumbs. During the inevitable funeral, though, Marylin finds herself moved by the little bird's demise and afterward Kate amazes her by requesting toenail-painting lessons.

In another story, Kate learns an amazing lesson on how to connect with others, taught by a free-spirited new girl at school. In yet another, Marylin has a sleepover that goes bad from the start --- until it's redeemed by a flock of snow-angels.

This is a satisfying read with tremendous heart. I wholeheartedly recommend THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF GIRLS to any female who has a best friend, had a best friend, or wants a best friend. I do have just one question: How old is the author, Frances O'Roark Dowell? She knows sixth grade girls so eerily well, I swear she can't be much over twelve.

   --- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon (terryms2001@yahoo.com)

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