Illinois Authors

Research shows that seven out of ten girl fights are over a guy. The Boy Swap Club fixes all that. In an effort to spread around male cuteness and minimize fights and backstabbing, they just share boyfriends. And Brooke Thomas, consummate band member, has been asked to join the super secret club because the president of the club has the hots for her guy. Brooke doesn't want to share her boyfriend. I mean, who does? But how can she say no? She, a second chair flutist in the school band, finds herself sitting between the Varsity Cheerleader Captain and the Homecoming Queen at the first meeting. Her friends will never believe this in a million years. Too bad she can’t tell them. But she knows. This one event can change her entire life. What if she becomes actual friends with one of these girls? It might be worth sharing her boyfriend. Besides, he'll always love her best, right?

What happens when the girl who knows everything . . . suddenly doesn’t? Middle school is a test, but Cici Reno has all the answers. She's the go-to girl for advice. She's cool, she's funny, and she's enlightened (thanks to yoga classes at her mom's studio). So when her pretty BFF, Aggie, is too shy to speak to the boy she's crushing on, Cici goes online and does the talking for her. The only problem is, Cici starts to fall for the guy herself! For the first time in her life, she doesn't have a clue.

When seventh-grader Elle moves to a new town, she seizes the opportunity to reinvent herself and join the in-crowd, but soon she must choose between popularity and true friendship.

Farrar Straus Giroux, New York : 2011.

Working in her family's pumpkin patch every year, seventeen-year-old Jamie has dreamed of two things--dating co-worker Danny and being crowned Pumpkin Princess--but her beautiful and famous cousin Milan's visit may squash all of her hopes.

Farrar Straus Giroux, New York : 2010.

When her best friend Sea returns from her summer vacation claiming to have a boyfriend, twelve-year-old Tori is sure she is lying and makes up her own boyfriend, who just so happens to do everything better than Sea's boyfriend.

Farrar Straus Giroux, New York : 2009.

While working part-time as a barista in a Chicago coffee bar, high school senior Jane dabbles in matchmaking after observing the coffee preferences of her customers.