Natalie StandifordThe Only Girl in School

I am a huge fan of Natalie Standiford's and have been since I read her YA novel How to Stay Goodbye in Robot. Lately she's been writing more MG than YA, but they're still amazing. This one is no exception.I feel so awful for Claire: she's the only girl in her elementary school. (Okay, it's not as bad as it would be if you were the only girl in high school or, even worse, middle school. But still---awkward!)And it doesn't help that it's the age where most guys treat her like she's got some sort of disease, even Henry (her other best friend).This book is still completely adorable and very, very fun. (AND there's a mystery about a local legend named Smuggler Joe who may or may not have left treasure around.)Highly recommended.

This book is really cute. Written in the form of "letters" from one friend to another. It is really well-written and fun. My daughter enjoyed it.

Granddaughter loved this book...this book was always checked out at the library so I decided to buy it for her.

loved by grand daughter

good book. My granddaughter loved it.

Very fascinating! Boy and Girl Appealing Book!

I BOUGHT THIS BOOK FOR A GIFT FOR A YOUNG GIRL AND SHE LOVES IT.

{My Thoughts} – Some of the best books I have read have been written in a diary/ letter style. Claire begins by writing a letter to her friend Bess that moved to California. Each chapter is a new letter that she writes to her friend.I enjoyed getting to learn Claire and her personality. I also liked how the boys in the story were so different from her that it made sense they would all clash. How could they not? Claire ends up being the only girl in her entire school this year, she wouldn’t have been alone except that Bess had moved. The things that happen when you are the only girl in school can become unreal. Some of the boys that were her friends, stopped being her friends, others started to treat her worse and worse.Why do you think the boys were treating her so different? What kind of feelings do you think she would have been dealing with? Do you think that it’s really possible she’d be the only girl in her school? Is she the only young girl mentioned in the entire book? Are the perks to being the only girl in school? So many questions and they all get answered as your reading the book.I think that any child would enjoy this book. It has an interesting take on what would happen if one would find themselves as the only girl in school. Claire had a lot of ups and downs within the book and I think that the ways in which she handled situations was appropriate for her age. I do wish that she would have been more open with her teachers but seeing it from a child’s point of view you can understand why she wasn’t as open as she could have been.I didn’t like how the book started as a letter Claire was writing to Bess and then in a few it had her replying to some of Bess’ letters. I don’t understand why it is like that in the beginning of the book, but it didn’t stay that way throughout the book. I think had it stayed that way it would have made the book a bit more interesting. However, if it weren’t going to stay that way maybe it shouldn’t have started that way? I don’t know for sure.

Good read! My niece enjoyed it.