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Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
Grade 5-7-Part of a series about four seventh graders, this book highlights Morgan Miller, who wants to curl up and sink through the floor rather than give a presentation in English class. For the assignment, she has gathered 10 items into a sack and now must explain why each one identifies who she is. While she waits her turn, she thinks about the significance of each object, recalling the events they represent. Readers find out that her father left her family to pursue an acting career, why she had to stop taking ballet, and how her friendship with CJ began. Just that morning, Morgan had a falling out with CJ and now she feels isolated; all she has left is her brother and her angry mother. Because she no longer knows who she is, the items no longer have any meaning. How can she survive the sack project? Alternating between the present and past, Vail successfully captures the intense, minute-to-minute insecurities of middle-school life. Her gritty, terse prose and complex characters keep readers engrossed. The questions of what makes a friend, why some families seem more perfect than others, and how to be true to yourself make for an appealing story line. Readers will cry with the protagonist and sympathize with her problems. Fans of Judy Blume’s Just as Long as We’re Together (1987) and Here’s to You, Rachel Robinson (1993, both Orchard) will enjoy Morgan’s view of her world.Linda Bindner, formerly at Athens Clarke County Library, GACopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews
paper 0-590-37453-2 Prickly, unlovable Morgan narrates the third book in Vail’s Friendship Ring trilogy (If You Only Knew,1998, not reviewed), presenting what amounts to an autobiography in flashback as she waits nervously to be called on in class . The assignment for seventh-grade Creative Writing was to bring ten self-defining items to class in a paper bag; too late, Morgan realizes that she will have to explain each item’s meaning. She has gathered tokens of embarrassingly personal meaning: a St . Christopher medal, a spatula, a Barbie doll’s head, a box of candy, a twig, and more. Every one recalls a seismic incident in her life, from her father’s departure to shifts in her relationships with friends, boys, and her mother; everyone gives readers a key to unlocking Morgan’s tough defenses to reveal the vulnerability beneath. For all her anger and mean behavior, she doesn’t lack for courage, and in the end acquits herself well enough in front of friends and classmates to earn a rare nod of approva l from a fearsomely demanding teacher. Readers drawn by the previous books, or the series’ eye catching, CD-size format, won’t exactly like Morgan, but they will end up admiring her. (Fiction. 10-12) — Copyright