This is a great middle school novel about friendship and family and facing your fears. 7th-grader Georges (the S is silent) is great character, and I think a lot of kids will identify with him. He has great parents and doesn't always confide in them. He gets picked on by a particularly obnoxious bully at school but isn't at the bottom of the middle school social heap. He's good at some things and not others. He's not entirely sure why his former Jason now sits at the cool kids table.

There isn't much action in this story, but it's full of very believable thoughts and feelings and questions, and a good helping of humor. It should appeal to both boys and girls. Although Georges is in 7th grade, I think it could appeal to kids much younger -- maybe 3rd grade through 7th or 8th grade -- because the themes are really very universal. There's very little about budding attraction to the opposite sex, so I think younger kids would relate to Georges and his situation as easily as older kids. Also, I LOVED the Blue Team thread!

(Note: I received a free advance reading copy of this book from the publisher at an American Library Association Annual Conference. I was not required to write a positive review. Thank you, Random House!)