Book Review: This Is Me From Now On by Barbara Dee

Title: This Is Me From Now On

Author: Barbara Dee

Publisher: Simon&Schuster, April 2010

Trade Paperback, 272 pages

Genre: Young Adult

Ages: 9 - 13

Grades: 4 - 8

Source: Advanced Reading Copy from Author

Description of This Is Me From Now On by Barbara Dee from publisher:

Sometimes your life just needs a little jolt.

This is what Evie's new friend Francesca tells her, and soon enough, Evie's life has had something more like an earthquake. Francesca thinks life is dull unless you go after everything you want and say everything on your mind all the time--and sometimes that includes giving other people a little behind the scenes help to give them what she thinks they want.

Evie can't always tell if she's horrified or fascinated by everything Francesca convinces her to do, but ultimately, she comes to see friendship--and life--in a whole new light.

My Thoughts:

Reading This Is Me From Now On was pure fun, a definite page turner and a book that any young girl will love to read. I found Evie's character one that most girls can relate to as she has to find her own way as she enters seventh grade. She has her group of BFF's that she's known for years, things always seem the same and Evie starts to feel restless. When Francesa the "new girl" in school  moves next door, things definitely turn topsy turvy in Evie's life. Francesca has traveled the world, is more of a free spirit and  dreamer and she is willing to take risks that Evie would never have thought of before.

Evie learns quite a few lessons as the school year progresses. She learns for herself about what friendship really means, that it's okay to be different, to take risks and learn from them and that being yourself and having fun is really okay. I think that  these are wise lessons for young girls to learn at this age. Plus, Ms. Dee added humor and a sense of fun and adventure to the story that makes the reader want to zip through each page to find out what will happen next. I loved it and I'm not a tween girl but I think that there is a tween girl inside all of us adults that will enjoy reading This Is Me From Now On.  I highly recommend This Is Me From Now On for any young girl or tween in middle school as it covers such issues as friendship, self discovery, boy crushes, family and sibling issues and so much more. This would make a wonderful book for a girls book club, there are discussion questions here.

You can read the first chapter of This is Me From Now On, here.

AUTHOR BIO: Barbara Dee

Barbara Dee is a graduate of Yale University, Middlebury College's Bread Loaf School of English, and the University of Chicago Law School. She has taught high school English, practiced law, and reviewed books. She lives with her husband and three children in Westchester County, New York.

Make sure to check out other Young Adult books written by Barbara Dee. I've read and highly recommend Solving Zoe, (read my review here). You can find more information at Barbara Dee's Website, here.

Make sure to check back tomorrow as I have a few special This Is Me From Now On themed goody bags from Ms. Dee  to giveaway and some more information to share about This Is Me From Now On.

Enter the giveaway, here.

Disclosure: Thanks to the author for sending me an advanced copy of this book to review. I am an Amazon associate and Indiebound associate.