What Every Girl (Except Me) Knows

by Nora Raleigh Baskin

Book Overview

Twelve-year-old Gabby Weiss is in the market for a stepmother. For a while she forms a bond with her father's girlfriend, Cleo, but when they break up, Gabby's hopes are shattered. Still, sharing... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0440418526
• ISBN13: 9780440418528
• Release Date: November 2002
• Publisher: Yearling Books
• Length: 213 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.2" x 7.6"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

The same but much better

Children's literature is filled with stories of kids with dead or emotionally dead parents and the emotional angst involved with adolescence. I have read hundreds of them. Some are much better than others. This is one of the better ones.Gabby sounds and acts real. She and her friends talk like preteens. They all have problems and they are all struggling to understand themselves and sometimes each other. Gabby is sympathetic without being pathetic. Gabby knows loneliness, but she also knows love and friendship. She has been an outcast and she struggles to understand why she is on the outside, thinking it is because she is motherless. She learns that her mother's death and absence are a critical part of her emotional make-up, but not the only reasons for her problems. The other kids around her have problems, too. Problems are a fact in any life.Baskin has written an emotionally reachable book without sinking into pathos. The characters don't want to be pitied, not even Gabby at her worst moments. They just want to be understood. This book is a great read and I will be very surprised if it doesn't get some recognition from various medal-awarding groups. I am wholeheartedly promoting it to the kids in my local library.If you like Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's "Alice" series, you will definitely like this book.

Great Book

I'm a boy and I read the book and I loved it. It's about a 12 year old girl name Gabby Weis growing up without a mother. I found the book surprisingly funny and interesting. Baskin did a great job writting about Gabbys' struggles through life and middle school . I'd recommened this book to all kids boys and girls ages 9-15. This was a great book and I will definately read her next book. You should really get the book it was great.

Very Inspiring

I thought this book was a real page turner. I enjoyed the book because there were real life situations. This is especially true among the middle school years when girls really need their mothers more than ever and Gabby didn't have hers. She had a good friend and her dad's girlfriend but that was not enough, she missed her mom. I think any person would enjoy this book from a kid to an adult. I highly recommend it.

The Book That Every Girl Should Read

This book is the best!! I couldn't put it down! Best of all it takes place in my town, so I know where the book is talking about! This book is about a girl growing up without a mother, and the hardships she faces. Like her dads girlfriend Cleo and her brother. The book is a true story!! The characters names are made up, buty their based on real people. The worst thing about the book is that her mother really died that way!! But this book is a REALLY good book!! I hope she writes a sequal!!

The Book All Girls Should Read!!!!

This is a excellent book!! It takes place in my home town!! She even came to visit our school! Best of all its true!! The characters names are made up and some parts are also made up...but the rest is true!! Its about a girl growing up without a mother, and the hardships she faces. Its really interesting! I couldn't put it down! Its really heart warming!! Best of all I can really relate to her, because I know where she is talking about!!