Two eighth-grade girls struggle with shyness but yearn to connect with boys in this epistolary novel. Annie, known as "Bean," and her BFF Izzy, known as "Cisco," write notes to each other all day at school, deciding to research the problem in their new, super-secret, two-member "flirt club."  The two girls blossom when they become involved in drama and take parts in the school musical. Izzy gets a real catch of a boyfriend, but what will she do if he wants her to eat lunch with him at the popular table instead of with her very best friend? Somehow you know it will all turn out just fine in this easy jaunt through the middle-school–female mind. Writing in language every bit as excitable as her characters, debut author Daly uses notes and diaries to follow the two girls through a year of turmoil, laughter, misunderstandings, embarrassments, triumphs and fun. By the end of the book, they've grown from little girls to young teens, but their friendship conquers all. Just the ticket for preadolescent girls. (Fiction. 10-13)

Eighth-graders Annie (aka the Bean aka Secret Agent 66) and Izzie (aka Cisco aka Secret Agent 88) are best friends, and they share an exciting, mysterious, if at times aggravating interest: boys. Neither has much experience with the male species, so they start Flirt Club, a two-person group (at first) devoted to mastering the art of boy catching ("et's see if we can adopt identities that don't clam up, blush, stutter, sputter, and basically run away and die around boys," writes the Bean). Told through very funny notes to each other, journal entries, and minutes from Flirt Club meetings, Daly's debut sparkles with wit, and her protagonists brim with enthusiasm and heart. This duo will endear readers with their nonstop goofball humor and boisterous personalities as they suffer being cast as "corn" in the school production of Joseph, among other theater-related slights, and struggle to hang onto each other as boys finally do enter and shake up their worlds. It's refreshing to see these girls counter middle-school drama with silliness rather than angst and hand-wringing. As Cisco and the Bean would say, "Thank God for being weird." Ages 12–up. (Jan.)

Gr 5–7—Best friends Izzy and Annie are trying to survive the horrors of middle school, and the fact that they are drama and choir geeks is not helping the situation. Neither has ever had a boyfriend, but crushes abound as they decide to start Flirt Club and figure out what they are doing wrong in this department. Other girls join the after-school support group and a tight bond forms as they all watch, learn, and attempt to understand the male species. However, dating goes south with cheating boyfriends, crushes liking another friend, and multiple boys chasing one girl. Told in journal entries and notes back and forth, mostly Izzy's and Annie's, the conversations are filled with quirky, silly exchanges that mirror one another so closely that it's difficult to tell the characters apart. It does not help that they start using code names, Cisco and The Bean, in the first note. References to bands and songs that only an older generation would really know (Hot Chocolate!) can make readers feel as though they are missing out on the joke. The dialogue also seems to bend to the far side of goofy and childish; calling each other pet names like "pork chop" and referencing bowel movements as Elvis will induce either eye-rolling or spontaneous giggles. However, the girls' friendships are authentic and the situations are definitely on target for middle schoolers. An additional purchase for those who understand what it is like to be socially unsure and are okay with that.—Mariela Siegert, Westfield Middle School, Bloomingdale, IL