Maddie in the Middle — Julia Lawrinson

This is a contemporary and timely exploration of friendships between young girls and the pressures they're faced with in the modern world. Maddie Lee is in 6th grade and she feels ordinary and dull. Her best and oldest friend Katy is head counselor and aiming at an academic scholarship. Maddie doesn't have anything that is hers, anything that is special. Enter a mysterious new girl, Samara. Samara is pretty, calm, and before long is in the popular girls' group. Maddie wants more than anything else to become friends with her. But when she does finally engineer a friendship of sorts, Maddie realizes that Samara has a secret. When Samara enlists Maddie to raise money to keep her family from being separated, Maddie finally feels important and needed. So when Samara asks her to go one step further and start stealing, Maddie makes a decision that will have consequences beyond her imagining.