“It all started this morning in homeroom with a stupid game of MASH. You know, Mansion-Apartment-Shack-House….You keep crossing things out until you find out who you will marry, how many kids you will have, what kind of car you’ll drive, what kind of house you’ll live in, and important stuff like that.” Yes, self-proclaimed love cynic, Venola Mae Cutright, who has watched her friends drop “like flies to the disease” has now decided to find true love in what Orchard Books calls a “hopelessly humiliating and laugh-out loud” novel. In true Venola style, she methodically chooses her romantic object and then writes about it in her “super-secret locked-up diary.”

  According to School Library Journal, “Venola’s voice remains true to her fun and witty character throughout….Preteens, including reluctant readers, will enjoy the amusing illustrations and the quick-paced structure.”

Publishers Weekly states, “Readers will grin easily at many of the preteen’s observations, among them her description of square dancing during gym class, when “The boys approach us like it’s some kind of primal battlefield, and pass us back and forth with such velocity that some girls come near to passing out, but others of us have learned to stomp toes with the best of the guys.” Sorra creates humorous doodles on Venola’s diary pages, and the heroine’s ingenuous voice moves this tale along at a perky pace.”