The Next Great Paulie Fink

 I loved this book by Ali Benjamin, author of The Thing About Jellyfish.  It was unique and refreshing and thought-provoking.  Caitlyn moves to this VERY rural VT town where the school is in a house and there are only 10 kids in her class.  There was a legendary kid in their class named Paulie Fink, but he has disappeared this year and didn't tell anyone that he would not be returning to 7th grade.  She immediately starts to compare this place to her old school where she needed to worry about cliques, and what is cool, and what is not.  They decided to have a reality-show-style competition to see who can be the NEXT great Paulie Fink.  As the story unfolds, you learn that Caitlyn may dislike this new place, but its special nature is softening the hardness in her...the place that made her a mean girl at her old school.  You grapple with questions like, what do we know about people?  What do they let us see and why?  What will your story be?   I love stories for kids that get them thinking about their place, their school, their role in what goes on around them.  This would make a superb real-aloud and lead to some meaningful discussions.  (FIC BEN)