Luv YA Bunches (Flower Power Book #1): Volume 1

Katie-Rose doesn't have any friends at school. She's really hoping that over the summer, popular girl Milla will ditch her not-so-nice friends and want to hang out with her, instead. Milla's not too sure who she wants to be friends with. Her current friends aren't always nice, but she doesn't want to be a social nobody, either. A new girl, Violet, enters the mix, and she's waiting to see which social group she should join. She's not afraid of resident mean girl, Modessa. Soon, Katie-Rose befriends Yasaman, who loves computers. She's made her own website where friends can chat with each other. When Milla's good luck charm disappears, the outcome changes everything. Will the four girls find their way navigating through social pressures? LUV YA BUNCHES is the first book in a new tween series that mentions Myracles's characters from her other popular INTERNET GIRLS series. This one reads as a younger version of that series, and will contain three more books. It's a very cute story - with IM chat and mini screenplays included. Reviewed by: Jennifer Rummel

Excellant story about middle school girls and their path to learning what is really important in life....... a heartwarming story portraying what really matters while hilighting the journey of acceptance for these individuals talents and cultural differences.

uv Ya Bunches, although written for a younger (target age group: 9-13) audience, is a book that will easily be enjoyed by readers of a wider span of ages. Speaking as an 18 year old, I genuinely enjoyed this book for what it was, not in a "aw, look at the cute younger kids!" way. I think I was most excited about seeing a Muslim girl portrayed not as the "token Muslim girl" (even though in some ways, that was still her role), but as a genuine character in a group of 4 entering fifth graders. All of the characters are fantastically well-developed for a group of 11 year olds, which is a real testament to the amazingness of Lauren Myracle's writing. The social networking site, [...] (it needs a better name!) brings the girls all together in a really cute way-something you do actually get to see in the day of Facebook, Myspace, Ning, and the like. I was very glad to see she did an IM-format book featuring a younger generation, though the nod back to the original Internet Girls was adorable! The fact that the book was written in present tense really helped provide a playful edge to the story. The girls are so realistic and, as a result of that, extremely likeable. They are given real-life struggles that are portrayed so elegantly by Myracle, in a way that is not overwhelming at all for 11 year olds to read, but also a way that adds a lot more dimension to both the books and the characters. The situations these girls go through are all things that real girls go through (I can tell you that the incident with the turtle? Yeah, I had that same thing happen to me in the third grade with a beanie baby, being framed to look like I had stolen it and put it in my backpack. SAME story.) and it is important that there are books like this out there to serve as reassurance that their situations are not at all unique, that others are dealing with the same thing, they are far from alone. I am so proud of Lauren Myracle for addressing real life issues, messed up parents, girl fighting, and more, things that we as a society oftentimes fail to prepare our daughters for. This was a story with real life girls dealing with real life struggles in a way that shows friendship as stronger than any difficulties they may be faced with. Rating: 5/5

Open Letter to Scholastic Books: I was outraged to learn that you recently decided to censor a gay friendly book from your national Book Fairs, called Luv Ya Bunches. This is not the sort of discriminatory message I would expect an organization of your stature and influence among schoolchildren everywhere would be sending, and I respectfully ask that you immediately reverse this decision. Children everywhere are bombarded with messages of intolerance. These messages are what cause the suicide rate of LGBT youth to be four times the rest of the population, and which lead to hate crimes against gays and lesbians. We need our respected educational institutions to stand up for everyone's rights and not to further intolerance and hate. Censoring this book in particular sends the message that children of gay and lesbian parents are abnormal, or that there's something wrong with two men or two women raising kids. There is nothing wrong with gay men and lesbians serving as parents, and Scholastic shouldn't be asserting that there is. As a leading education publisher, you have the responsibility to act without discrimination. Your censorship is unacceptable, and without reversing your decision or publicly apologizing for this intolerance you will be clearly aligning the Scholastic brand with the sort of anti-gay message that I sincerely hope you wish to avoid.

In Luv Ya Bunches, Katie-Rose, Milla, Violet and Yasaman are all experiencing their first week in the 5th grade. Katie-Rose is the techy one - she normally hides behind her camcorder. She and Camilla or "Milla" for short became friends over the summer at their summer camp. But now that school is about to start Katie-Rose is stressing because she's not sure if her friendship with Milla will continue. Milla is the beautiful, popular one. She wears all the trendy clothes, and hangs out with the coolest girls in school (although Modessa and Quin - said coolest girls, are not very nice). She lives with her two mothers and is stressing because slowly she is realizing that the coolest girls in school might not exactly be who she wants to hang out with. Violet is the new girl in school. She just moved with her father to town and is none too happy about having to leave her friends behind. Not to mention she is suffering over the loss of her mother. She is assessed by the other girls and is promptly offered to be part of the popular clique. She wears the right clothes and has the perfect attitude - but will she fit in? Then there's Yasaman - although she's been in the same school with these other girls, she has always been seen as an outcast. Her classmates see her as different because she wears a hijab and comes from a Muslim family. But underneath all that she is quite the whiz at html code. She has created a social network (similar to MySpace, Facebook, etc.) but she has no friends to tell about it. The story is told through all four points-of-view, including some fun instant message chats, and some very inventive screenplays and daydreams (courtesy of Katie-Rose). Each girl has her own personality and they all four compliment one another. It touches on topics that are very real to young girls - anywhere from bullying, to fashion sense, to just everyday issues - like overcoming differences and accepting who you are. I loved all the illustrations and the cutesy chat forums were uber adorable. I think all young girls can enjoy this story - it is definitely geared towards the 9-12 age group. It is also noted that this is book one - so we will definitely be reading more about the girls in the future.