Kingdom of Strange, The

“Am extremely grouchy and even a good rant won’t help. I’d talk to Fishbone, but in spite of his tremendous goodwill, he is still ‘only’ a cat and therefore unable to contribute much in the way of verbal advice. He’s also busy right now, contemplating the borders between the recently established Cat Zone and Dog Zone. The borders were Gran’s idea. A way to keep the beasts separate until some kind of peace agreement has been reached.”

Ninth grader Thisbe has entered the Era of Weird. She’s not sure she likes her best friends anymore, and her house has been invaded by yoga-loving Granny Ed and her smelly dog, Chutney. When she’s assigned a group project in English (what could be worse?), Thisbe decides to work online with a student from another school. The next twelve weeks change her life in ways she never imagined as she forms an important new friendship and makes new discoveries about writing, identity, friendship, and love.