Planet Middle School Read online

  when I was out of my mind.

  And no more baggy pants.

  I slip on a new pair of jeans

  that hug.

  They’ve got a few rhinestones

  on the back pocket.

  Nothing too girly.

  Just a little.

  Like me.

  Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?

  Mom makes a special dinner for Jake

  once he gets good at

  swinging himself around

  on those crutches.

  KeeLee comes over too.

  She and Jake haven’t seen each other

  since he left the hospital.

  KeeLee tells everyone about

  the songs she’s practicing

  for the next show-choir concert.

  Dad tells a few funny stories

  about when he was in a band.

  Caden asks Jake

  a million questions about

  how it feels to be hit by a car,

  like it’s some great adventure.

  Then he asks if he can

  draw something on Jake’s cast.

  Jake doesn’t seem to mind.

  Me, I’m quiet, for once,

  taking it all in,

  feeling like

  I wouldn’t trade places

  with anyone.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Storytelling is not a collaborative art, and yet there are always people in the life of the storyteller who help the story to be birthed.

  Thanks to Bloomsbury for inviting me to write a poem for First Kiss (Then Tell), the anthology that opened the door to this adventure.

  Thanks to my faithful and sharp-eyed reader, Amy Malskeit, for offering valuable critiques from first draft to last.

  Thanks to my editor, Victoria Wells Arms, for her patience.

  Finally, thanks to the following ladies for generously sharing their stories of young love with me as inspiration: Barbara Bazaldua, Marie Bradby, Bev Gallagher, Becky Kirk, Candace Lazzaro, Tracy Roeder, Maria Salvadore, and Debra Jackson-Whyte.

  Copyright © 2011 by Nikki Grimes

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  First published in the United States of America in September 2011

  by Bloomsbury Books for Young Readers

  Electronic edition published in September 2011

  www.bloomsburykids.com

  For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to

  Permissions, Bloomsbury BFYR, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Grimes, Nikki.

  Planet Middle School / by Nikki Grimes. — 1st U.S. ed.

  p. cm.

  Summary: A series of poems describes all the baffling changes at home and at school in

  twelve-year-old Joylin’s transition from tomboy basketball player to not-quite-girly girl.

  ISBN 978-1-59990-284-5

  eISBN: 978 1 59990 727 7

  [1. Novels in verse. 2. Coming of age—Fiction. 3. Basketball—Fiction.

  4. Friendship—Fiction. 5. Middle schools—Fiction. 6. Schools—Fiction.

  7. Family life—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.5.G75Pl 2011 [Fic]—dc22 2010050744