Larger-Than-Life Lara

This isn't about me. The story, I mean. So already you got a reason to hang it up. At least that's what Mrs. Smith, my teacher, says.

But the story is about ten-year-old Laney Grafton and the new girl in her class—Lara Phelps—whom everyone bullies from the minute she shows up. But instead of acting the way a bullied kid normally acts, this new girl returns kindness for a meanness that intensifies—until nobody remains unchanged, not even the reader.

In a unique and multilayered story, with equal parts humor and angst, Laney communicates the art of storytelling as it happens, with chapter titles such as "Character," "Setting," and "Conflict," She weaves an unforgettable tale of a new girl who transforms an entire class and, in the process, reveals the best and worst in all of us.