This young school-based novel by a popular author centers on the rocky relationship between two girls who really should be good friends but just aren t. Jenny has been wary of Sara since the first day of kindergarten and with good reason. Sara has a sharp tongue and a prickly personality. She knows how to get what she wants, and she always wants to get Jenny. Every time Jenny thinks they can be friends, Sara does something mean in return. Then Sara is diagnosed with cancer, and Jenny has to reconsider her whole relationship with her nemesis. Plotted so that the surprises keep coming to the very end, this novel spotlights the mean kid in class and subtly examines her manipulative effect not only on Jenny, but on the other kids, too. Readers can observe the struggles around as well as the struggles within the main character as she tries to cope with the mixture of feelings she is experiencing. Even though the topic is serious, Petersen tells the story with light humor that will appeal to his usual audience of young middle-graders. Easy to read and accurately capturing the different emotions of the classroom characters, the novel combines laughs and tears to produce a story with an unforgettable edge. P. J. Petersen lives in Redding, California. Meredith Johnson lives near Pasadena, California.