children fiction (middlegrade/tween girls--romance, grief, and bullying). Louise (Thumbelina)'s mom committed suicide after her father left them for a new wife and stepdaughter (whose name, apparently, is "Dearie"); Louise has blocked out her memories for that entire year though her grandparents try to facilitate her grieving process. Meanwhile, death threats have caused Louise to quit gymnastics--the thing that she loves and shows extreme talent for. Add to this some mysterious notes from a secret admirer (the true author becomes obvious to the reader but not to Louise, or even to the sister of the admirer) and you've got a recipe for some significant tween drama. Characters are sweet and charming if painfully tragic (you may want to keep tissues handy); a few logical gaps in the plot can be easily ignored. Though Louise does eventually report her bully's activities to her coach, the incident is unusually easy to resolve--Louise's best friend Reni (overweight to the point of being borderline diabetic) suffers not from teasing but from her unrequited letters to Justin Bieber. ( )

Read other people's reviews and although some loved it, I just could NOT get past the first 20 pages. I tried a couple times but I just couldn't enjoy what I was reading. To be fair, I've read a ton of books in the last two weeks so perhaps I was just too full to handle one more story. I found it heartbreaking to read, at the end of the book, that they author had lost her own father to suicide at an early age. ( )

This was a sweet read. Louise has changed her name to Thumbelina and quit gymnastics. Her grandparents are worried about her and her best friends Reni and Henderson do their best to keep her mind off the terrible thing that no one talks about. ( )

A story about a wounded girl and the boy who won't give up on her.

7th grader Louise should be the captain of her school's gymnastics team - but she isn't. She's fun and cute and should have lots of friends - but she doesn't. And there's a dreamy boy who has a crush on her - but somehow they never connect. Louise has everything going for her - so what is it that's holding her back?

Phoebe Stone tells the winning story of the spring when 7th grader Louise Terrace wakes up, finds the courage to confront the painful family secret she's hiding from - and finally get the boy. ( )

This book is about Louise Terrace. She lives with their grandparents, but it wasn't always like that. In the beginning of the story Louise can't remember why she now lives with her grandparents on the other side of town. She doesn't talk to her old friends anymore but makes friends with brother and sister, Henderson and Reni. She aslo has a secret admirer (Benny McCartney) whom often leaves her notes. At the end of the book Louise gets sick and starts to remember her past. She remembers it was her mother's traumatic suicide that caused her to lose her memory. She starts to get closer to Henderson and he helps her to find her way back to her old self, all while a romance blossoms between them.