The Second Life of Abigail Walker

Eleven-year-old Abigail Walker turns her back on the crowd of mean girls with whom she has been trying to ingratiate herself, since her best friend Claudia moved away, and finds that many other experiences and opportunities open up before her. Befriended by quiet Anoop Chatterjee at school, and soon......more

There's a confession I'd like to make, I know that Frances O'Roarke Dowell is an amazing writer but I always end up finishing her books with a bit of a miffed feeling. There seems to be always a bit too much going on, or a theme that just doesn't need to be there, or an aspect that is a little jarri......more

I can't quite put my finger on why I liked this book so well. I shouldn't have, really; I'm wary of books about mean girls, which are often uncomfortable to read until they sometimes offer an easy answer; of books about overweight girls, which usually seem to struggle with being both body-image-posi......more

Abby has always been on the outskirts of her group of friends, considered the fat one who could be teased endlessly about her weight. She has to be careful not to give her real opinion and to always toe the line set by the group leader. Privately, she considers them to be “medium girls” and nothing......more

Sixth grader Abigail (Abby) Walker is desperately trying to fit in with a group of girls she thinks of as "mediums" because of their clothing size and their safe, vanilla attitudes. But because of her extra weight, 17 pounds more than the others, and possibly because of her desperate need to belong,......more