I really liked this book. It's short, funny, and amazingly convincing as
something a 13-year-old girl could write, think, do etc. even though it's
written by a guy!

It's all about the trials and tribulations of a kid in her early teens.
Floey is the main character and she feels left out most of the time ("in
the wallpaper"). She has several close friends. Azra and she have a
crush on the same guy, Wen, and they have a pact that they'll kind of
"share him." But then she sees him with another girl. Another guy,
Calvin, emerges. He's a bit older than she is. And has a girlfriend.

The first haiku appears early in the book. These are three lines, 5, 7,
5 syllables. Many more appear throughout the book. They are totally
awesome.


nothing in the cry
of cicadas suggests they
are about to die

—Matsuo Basho 1644-1694


Much later in the book she will receive a letter from Calvin:

bright and wild like fire
suddenly she steps forward
out of gray nothing


Floey's world gets real complicated when her home is invaded by visiting
cousins. Who are big time nasty. We learn her thoughts via her diary
writing (all in script font). They take the form of letters to herself.
Given her disappointments, she decides to become a totally awesome
future self.

For example, after a really bad experience when she falls onto her new
acquaintance Calvin (who has given her champagne) and found herself in
an embarrassing position on top of him ... she wrote:

To the older, wiser me,
You probably still remember this awful day pretty clearly.
As of right now my friends and family hardly notice me,
or they laugh at me or hate me because they don't know me
But I have some news for them: the days of the invisible,
ordinary, wallpaper Floey Parker are over. Tonight marks the
birth of a whole new me.
 One important note for the future: I will never drink
champagne again. Ever.

Much later, a friend of one of her cousins, and the cousin himself, do a
very nasty thing: they build a website and publish her diary. She
ultimately figures out a way to expose them.

The author, Mark Peter Hughes, describes himself in About the Author as
follows:

"... As a teenager, Mark worked in many different jobs: gas station
attendant, fast-food zombie, beach sticker enforcer ('I was fired after
only two days'), clam factory worker ('this was the smelliest of jobs
—my sisters avoided me all summer'), and movie theater usher,
among others. A former member of a local alternative rock band, he was
once kicked out of eighth-grade music class for throwing a spitball."

I especially liked the way he wraps up the book. Despite all the
infighting, misunderstandings, crazy teenage stuff, long term friendships
are mended, and what we hope might happen, looks like it's going to.