Lizzie At Last

West Creek Middle School

by Claudia Mills

The sequel to Losers, Inc. and You're a Brave Man, Julius Zimmerman

As seventh grade begins, Lizzie Archer knows she can't endure another year of being derided as the class nerd. Maybe she can't stop being smart -- does she want to? -- but at least she doesn't have to look so different. Out of her Emily Dickinson dresses and into Gap jeans she goes, and the effect is amazing. The girls talk to her; the boys tease her. But her braininess remains an obstacle to her popularity, and Lizzie wants so to be liked, especially by Ethan Winfield. To her teacher's amazement, Lizzie begins to make mistakes in math. Ethan is horrified -- he's her math partner -- but no one is more unhappy, or confused, than Lizzie. Will she ever find herself? Through her sparkling Lizzie Archer, Claudia Mills extends a hand to girls, gently encouraging them to be all that they can and to feel confident that like will befriend like.

Genres: Middle Grade, Fiction, Young Adult, Childrens, Realistic Fiction, Juvenile, Chick Lit

160 pages, Hardcover

First published September 26, 2000

About the author

Claudia Mills is the author of Nixie Ness, Cooking Star, 7 x 9 = Trouble!, Zero Tolerance, Write This Down, and many other books for children. She was born in New York City in 1954. She received her bachelor's degree from Wellesley College, her master's degree from Princeton University, and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University. She also received an M.L.S. degree from the University of Maryland, with a concentration in children's literature. She had a second career as a professor of philosophy at the Colorado at Boulder, until leaving that career in 2014 to write full time. She now teaches in the graduate program in children's literature at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia. All of her books have been written between 5 and 7 in the morning while drinking Swiss Miss hot chocolate.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/claudi...

Reviews

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was ok. I should have given it a three star rating, but it's better than some other books by her. But it's not something you should die to read.

[Lindsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember liking this as a kid and wanted to give it a quick reread before starting an Emily Dickinson anthology. For some reason, I remember this book being super Dickinson-centric and filled with her poetry. It’s not. Dickinson is only briefly mentioned as the protagonist’s fashion inspiration and favorite poet. I’ve no clue why such a small detail got so inflated in my mind… Anyway, the book doesn’t hold up that well rereading it as an adult (not just because of lack of Dickinson!), but it’s still decent.

[Ilana3animals · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read LIzzie at Last. I thought this book was very good. It is agout a girl trying to be some one shes not so she can be more popular. This book is for middle school girls who feel like they don't fit in.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

1st book that i can recall reading as a child that i remember as if it were yesterday! still my most favorite read im 29 now lol

[DoNut_SeeMe13 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this so much in middle school and even revisit it sometimes for the nostalgia. It still hits the same, but it is for middle schoolers or even fourth or fifth graders.

[Emily Pope · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just as good as I remember. Sweet, heartwarming, relatable and a great lesson in the power of learning to just be yourself.

[ukuklele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buku ini tidak semembosankan buku yang sebelumnya (yang Julius Zimmerman sebagai tokoh utama). Awal-awal membaca, saya masih ambil jeda tiap bab. Tapi kemudian saya ingin segera tahu apa yang akan dihadapi Lizzie selanjutnya sehingga menamatkan buku ini dalam semalam saja.

Saya juga tidak biasanya peduli dengan hubungan romansa antara tokoh utama dan love interest-nya. Tapi, sejak buku pertama (Losers, Inc.), saya merasa hubungan Ethan dengan Lizzie itu cute. Di sini masih begitu, saya menikmati lika-liku hubungan mereka. Mungkin karena cara penyampaiannya yang cukup realistis, tidak menggebu-gebu. Malah berkali-kali saya terkikik geli karena ingat sama pengalaman sendiri sewaktu SMP, ketika interaksi dengan setiap cowok (yah, mungkin hanya beberapa cowok) seakan-akan sangat berarti.

Saya mengira cerita ini memang dibuat agar serealistis mungkin. Sepertinya itulah kelebihan seri ini. Tapi, namanya karya fiksi untuk dipasarkan, sepertinya ada pakem yang mesti diikuti. Klise dan wishful thinking tak terhindarkan, mungkin agar ceritanya lebih menarik bagi sebagian pembaca.

Sampai di adegan Lizzie menarik perhatian Alex, saya merasa ceritanya mulai too good to be true. Walau saya rasa Alex sebetulnya enggak seistimewa itu juga sih, di samping menjadi badut kelas dan disebut-sebut sebagai anak populer.

Entah apakah adegan Lizzie berdansa dengan setiap cowok yang dia kenal--Julius, Alex, Tom, dan akhirnya Ethan--termasuk wishful thinking juga. (Bagian Julius berdansa dengan gadis yang sepertinya Olivia sih sepertinya sudah jelas wishful thinking.)

Pada akhirnya Lizzie harus menarik suatu pelajaran. Dalam cerita ini, ia tidak boleh minder duluan dan harus berani mencoba hal-hal baru (dalam rangka mencari jati diri, sepertinya).

[Dalia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book and I really enjoyed it because it talks about. High school drama and how this girl named Lizzie wants to become popular. When she actually is alone at school most of the time and it was interesting to see how. She develops throughout the story and matures, and it is also relatable because when. She is looking for something to wear in her closet she doesn’t know what to pick. Which is something that actually happens to me once in a while.

[Olivia Zerger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is middle school

[Mayeen Mohammed · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of my favorite books as a kid!

[Sadia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ahh what happened to Lizzie in this story? :( She went from a poetic, breathy, loveable weirdo to someone who really only cared about boys and being liked. Yes, I realize the whole point of the book was for her to find herself, but she became so... normal! I pictured her to be passionate about random things like the way clouds looked, but I didn't see much of that in this book. I think I much rather preferred reading about her from another perspective. What happened to ETHANN in this storyyyy!!? :((( I thought he would help her out and say she could be herself, but he only cared about his math grade! Ahhh. Out of character! Also, I found myself getting quite bored reading this book. The events weren't really interesting. The whole Alex liking Lizzie thing was bizarre! 3/5, sadly.

[Haley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lizzie at Last was written by Claudia Mills. It is about a girl who is so obsessed with being popular thet she forgets who she truly is. I liked how at the beginning of the book claudia mills wrote "For the girl I used to be." which let readers know that this was about her at the same age as Lizzie. Claudia mills really thought back to how she would feel as a seventh grader if she was going through all these dramatic things like Lizzie.Throughoutthe book Lizzie goes through many changes like she starts wearing new clothes, going to parties and she even starts doing worse in school just to be more popular. Claudia Mills really made sure that you could feel the pain that Lizzie was going through. I highly recomend this book to anyone and I would read it again.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lizzie at Last is a book about a girl who struggles between growing up, finding her true identity, and the decisions one has to make in life.

Lizzie is going into the 7th grade. However she wishes to change herself in order to make new friends and be accepted into the society at school, where beauty is when one wears the latest clothes and talk about nothing but boys, love and fashion.

This book is recommended for girls because we can relate to Lizzie's struggles in being accepted for who she really is and how difficult it is to find your own place in the social hierarchy that is oh so present in our school lives.

[eveleeen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was about a girl in middle school who is very awkward and kind of nerdy. She does'nt have many friends. But one day, she gets into the cool crowd but she is pretending to be someone she is not. At the end, she has to choose between her real friends who accept her as she is or the people whom she has to pretend to be something else to please them and risk being the laughing stock of the whole school.

I think that this book is very intresting and if you like drama, you will enjoy this book.

[Houston Keanu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lizzie, a nerd, wants to reinvent herself before she goes into seventh grade. She's got a crush on Ethan and is determined to win him over with her new look. Not everyone believes in Lizzie's transformation but she makes a couple new friends, Alison and somehow Marcia (a popular girl). In the end Lizzie discovers that being true to herself is what really matters, brains and all. I would recommend this book for anyone who would like a nice "feel-good" story. I wouldn't recommend this to bullies, because they wouldn't care and they'd just laugh at the character of Lizzie.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

- one of my favourite books as a preteen
- (I'm going to be all Eng-lit-ish, but) really good example of a female-centric Bildungsroman
- loved:
--Lizzie's horoscope book
--the description of "interminable" (learned that word from this book) boredom at football games & the game of counting down the time on the scoreboard
--her crush's "belligerent" (learned that word too) reluctance but his resigned humouring of her attention
--sewing in home ec
--Lizzie's floaty white Victorian dresses
--her hammock
--losing a poem because she didn't stop to write it down

[Uchechi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book because its was very realistic pic in school life and I could relate to it a lot. I could compare myself to ,Lizzie when she didn't really know what to wear. I could also relate when she something like not really going out to places with friends, something I'm still finding hard to do.
I also admire the ending. The way she said she didn't really like her crush anymore, because I used to have this boy I was crazy about in elementary, but know I don't know how to begin to say why I even liked him.

All in all, really great book.

[Kaitlyn]

I think this story is going to be about a girl who goes to school and loves school but the bully her. I can tell because of the book cover. Claudia MillsClaudia Mills

[Aria Nazari · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about your average female introvert who doesn't quite know how to fit in with the "popular" kids. I could definitely relate to her and her struggles of fitting in. A great book for girls in middle school.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good. Teaches about self-esteem!

[Rose]

JF Mil

[Kels · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't remember how long ago I read this but I am not sure if I liked so I am just guessing that I liked it.

[Josie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this book is cute

[Leo · Rating 5 out of 5]

it's cool.

[Cami · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book about finding yourself.

[Olivia Whitmore · Rating 1 out of 5]

whis book was not that good it did not have alot of detail

[Caralyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't like this one too much.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed being in Lizzie's head and her search for balance between how to act to fit in and how to still be herself.

[olivia ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was definitely adorable. I read it going into the 5th grade. It didn't teach me to 'be myself', but it was entertaining. I'd recommend this for any young girl.

[Naya]

good