This book is told month by month and would be a good book for a kid who is going through middle school. Tink is having a hard time with all of the changes going on around her and inside her. Her best friend, Jackie, is now part of the popular crowd and things are changing. The talk in the book about bodies changing and kids' comments to each other makes it seem like it is a book for middle school aged kids. I couldn't tell when it was taking place. Some things (ipods, actually talking on the phone to each other, etc.) made me think about 5-10 years ago, but I am not sure. ( )

I received this book through the Early Reviewers program.

A fun read about the ups and downs (and drama) of middle school life. As one of those kids who never fit in, the book struck a chord with me and belongs on the same shelf as Judy Blume. ( )

I don't read a lot of these "middle school drama" type books because, to be perfectly honest, I often find them to be annoying and unrealistic. What real thirteen-year-olds spend their entire lives revolving around puberty, boys, and changing friendships? Neither I nor my friends were ever like that, but we did run into those sorts of kids once in a while. I didn't really get them then, and I still don't completely get that mindset.

Anyway, though Hundred Percent was actually a pretty good book, my biggest issue with it was that the kids were way too "mature" (as the adults at school put it) for their age. They throw around words like "slutty" and "sexy," make jokes about "balls," and are always listening to "Rolling Stones" songs with very suggestive lyrics. And they're not even in middle school–they're in sixth grade! Eleven-year-olds are way too young to be thinking about any of those things.

If you forget the fact that Tink and her friends are so young, though, the story itself is a good one. I enjoyed watching her grow over the course of the novel as she struggled to define who she was. I can't say I'm a huge fan of her on-again-off-again childhood best friend Tracie, who tries way too hard to fit in with the cool kids (the "circle"), but one of the great things about the way the book is written is that by the end of the story I do understand and empathize with her decisions. There are several other side characters in Tink's class who are interesting, though probably more than were absolutely necessary–I started getting them muddled after a while. My favorite of these other characters was probably Bushwack, the nice, funny, and very uncool boy Tink likes a little more than Tracie thinks she should.

Some of the topics that come up are pretty serious ones. Tracie's mom has always been single, and there are whispers that Tink doesn't really understand calling her "a slut." The man she's dating is a twice-married guy with two kids, and Tracie spends quite a bit of the book romantically pursuing his son who's two years older than she is. There's a new boy at school who holds Tink's hand and tells her that he thinks she'd look attractive without any clothes on. Ick. The way all of these issues are handled is very tasteful, but I definitely wouldn't hand Hundred Percent over to an actual sixth-grader.

Honestly, I'm not really sure who the target audience for this book is. If you think it looks interesting, then you should check it out. Let me know if you do!

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this novel through BookLook Early Reviewers program. ( )

Filled with lots of drama and portrays pretty accurately just how hard it is to be a girl growing up and "finding herself". ( )

An interesting book for mid-grade readers. The author focuses on the dramas and intrigues that make life so complicated for pre-teens. She dives right into the sense of chaos and fear that surround a young girl as she sorts out relationship issues. Nothing is straightforward; everything is in a constant state of flux. For an adult reading this, it really takes you back to the painful issues of those years. ( )