Emma-Jean Lazarus is a brilliant, logical seventh-grader who has always kept her distance from her peers. She’s fond of them, but their behavior is often irrational, and they don’t always treat each other with kindness or care. Emma-Jean has always made it her policy to keep her distance, to observe them from afar. But that all changes one day when Emma-Jean comes upon kind-hearted Colleen Pomerantz sobbing in the girl’s room, distraught because the meanest girl in school is trying to steal her best friend.

What happens when Emma-Jean decides to help Colleen, to use her powers of logic to solve Colleen’s messy problem?

What happens when mean Laura Gilroy suspects that Laura and Colleen are against her?

Life gets messy, that’s for certain. But each girl discovers her inner strength, and powerful lessons about

friendship, self-worth, and the wonder of connection. Full text.