13 Gifts

It all started when Tara Brennan agreed to break into her school and steal the principal's prize goat.  Of course she gets caught, expelled, and utterly humiliated.  Her parents are angry and disappointed, so how can she tell them her real reason for going along with this crazy scheme was because of her mother's constant pressure for Tara to make friends.  That's hard to do when the whole family moves to a new town every year; Tara is used to being the girl on the sidelines, and she's comfortable there.

But thanks to the goat incident, Tara is on her way to Willow Falls, alone!  Willow Falls is her parents home town, but Tara's never been there, and she hasn't seen her Aunt Bethany, Uncle Roger, and cousin Emily in years.

Things go wrong before they can even get started, and Tara has no choice but work with this crazy old lady with a duck-shaped birthmark named Angelina.  Angelina is basically blackmailing Tara to find 13 crazy items on a list.  It seems impossible, but the kids in Willow Falls surprise Tara.  Not only do they want to be her friends, it seems like they can't wait to help her work through the list.

Along the way, Tara will learn some things about herself and how friendship can enrich her life.  She'll also learn some pretty shocking truths about her own family and maybe find a way to become a whole person.

This is the third book in the 11 Birthdays cycle, and judging by the ending, author Wendy Mass, and Willow Falls, aren't finished with us yet!

12 Finally

Rory Swenson can't wait to turn twelve.  Since she was seven, she's been keeping a list of all the things her parents promised she could have when she was twelve.  Now, that time has come, and she's starting with a cell phone.

At least with a phone Rory won't be so out of the loop.  It seems like everyone is texting and IMing, and Rory has to wait for a call on the land line.  If she's honest with herself, she really only talks to her best friend Annabelle.  Rory's main talent in life is being invisible.

No one even notices when she gets separated from her school group on a field trip to the reservoir and falls in a drainage pipe.  That's when she meets the strange old lady with the duck shaped birthmark who helps her out of the drainpipe and offers some cryptic advice about not getting what she wants until Rory knows what she needs.

But Rory is sure she knows what she needs:  a cell phone, a pet rabbit, coffee, permission to stay home alone and walk to school...Well, it's a long list.  She has a chart, in fact.  But as Rory starts to get all the things she's always wanted, nothing turns out as great as she planned, and having all her wishes come true is turning out to be a nightmare!

Finally is not a sequel to 11 Birthdays, but it is a companion novel, so if you enjoyed 11 Birthdays, give this one a try.  Even if you didn't read it, you can enjoy Finally anyway.  Wendy Mass is also the author of one of my favorite books, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, so read that, too!