What a great title - If A Tree Falls at Lunch Period!
This is a book I really enjoyed reading and discussing with tweens and teens.
Kirsten's parents are barely speaking to each other, and her best friend has fallen under the spell of the school's queen bee, Brianna. It seems like only Kirsten's younger science-geek sister is on her side. Walker's goal is to survive at the new white private school his mom has sent him to because she thinks he's going to screw up like his cousin. But he's a good kid. So is his friend Matteo, though no one knows why he’ll do absolutely anything that Brianna asks of him.
A funny, forthright take on middle school, with sparkling characterizations and touches of humor . . . tumultuous twists that ultimately convince Kirsten that, indeed, she does matter. "Unfolds in the less exotic setting of a fancy private school, but it treads more explosive ground as it switches between the viewpoints of two seventh-graders there -- Kirsten, who is white, and Walk, who is black. That catchy title is a metaphor for the uprooting that takes place when Kirsten and Walk learn they have a whole lot more in common than their "brilliance." At the same time, it signals this book''s real appeal for pre-teens: While it treats issues of race, class and marital discord fearlessly, it''s also one of the funniest they''ll read this year." The Washington Post Book World
