Popularity Papers 03 Words of Questionable Wisdom from Lydia Goldblatt & Julie Graham Chang

Best friends Julie and Lydia are back in this hilarious sequel to Amy Ignatow's breakout novel!

After spending all of fifth grade studying popularity together, Julie and Lydia are finally ready to put their hard-earned lessons to use in junior high. But before they can, tragedy strikes: Lydia's mom gets a job in London for six whole months! Before Lydia can say "fancy a cup of tea?" she's thrust into a new school, where she earns a reputation as "the Violent American." Meanwhile Julie's stuck navigating the cliques of American junior high on her own, where she is adopted by a group of troublemaking eighth graders known as the Bichons. The two best friends will have to learn to keep in touch and stand on their own, assisted as always by their trusty notebook. Amy Ignatow's signature sense of humor is on full display in this satisfying sequel.

andquot;Ignatow keeps the narrative lively, even as the girls work through embarrassment and sorrow. A fitting finale that suggests the duo will, in fact, survive eighth grade and beyond.andquot;

After spending six months apart in Book Two, best friends Julie and Lydia are reunited at last! Julie has said good-bye to the mean girls, and Lydia is ready to apply her hard-earned friendship lessons to founding their own crew. But bad news interrupts their reunion: their friend Sukieand#8217;s mother, ill for many years, has passed away. This shakes Lydia and Julie, who reevaluate their goals and decide to focus more on being supportive of the friends they have. Unfortunately, their well-meaning schemes almost immediately start to go awry, and everyone seems to be mad at them for reasons beyond their control. How can they be better friends when no one seems to want to give them the chance? As always, Julie and Lydiaand#8217;s hilarious back-and-forth notes form the backbone of the novel, in which Amy Ignatow reveals all-too-real truths about friendship and loyalty.

Lydia and Julie have been through many adventures as they navigated junior high, popularity, families, and friendship. In the final adventure in the series, the peaceful world of Hamlin Junior High is rocked when Lydia and Julie learn that theyand#8217;re going to have to play host to new students whose school burned down. The outside threat bands the Hamlin kids together against a common enemyand#8212;for a while. When the enemy gets their hands on Lydia and Julieand#8217;s notebook, no one wants anything to do with the girls. Itand#8217;s the biggest threat to their friendship (and a pretty definitive failure of their quest for popularity), and it can only be solved one way. Two words: dance battle.

Amy Ignatow is a cartoonist and the author of the Popularity Papers series. She graduated from Moore College of Art and Design and was once a backup singer in a rock band called Todd Young and His Rock Band. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband, Mark, her daughter, Anya, and their cat, Mathilda, who is mellowing out despite herself. Kind of.