The Secrets of Peaches

The Secrets of Peaches is the second book in a series that begins with Peaches and I will be very excited to pick up the third book as soon as possible. Reading the Princess Diaries series and this series have made me remember how much I enjoy reading for pleasure. Something doesn't need to be loaded with academic merit for me to like it and that is surley the case here, though there is some great symbolism with a sick pecan tree and bats flapping around.

As the second book of a series, this book is more mature because it address much more mature topics like leaving home for college, serious depression, and premarital sex. The girl who had sex is the last of the three that I would have expected to do so. With that thought in mind, I don't think that some middle school students would enjoy this book because so much of the content would feel very distant to them. On the other hand, depression and premarital sex may have become middle school topics since I finished middle school.

We have the same three characters, Murphy, Leeda, and Birdie, and we pick up in the same place, Bridgewater, GA, very close to the ending of the previous novel. The girls test each other's friendship in this story as they and members of their family proceede to let each other down, almost constantly. We should learn from reading this that people make mistakes and that they often won't ask for help when they need it the most.

As an avid reader, and some sort of writer, I have come to enjoy Jodi Lynn Anderson's writing because of her ability to write about smells and have me actually smell them. I find this refreshing, whether she is writing about a peach orchard in Georgia or a kitchen in Mexcio.

This book belongs in school libraries because it gives readers the opportunites to learn from the mistakes of the characters. However, I do have reservations about middle school libraries, as I expressed above.

Anderson, Jodi Lynn. The Secrets of Peaches. Harper Teen: New York, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-06-073310-0.