My Future Ex-Girlfriend

The gang from Me and Miranda Mullaly returns for more hijinks and heartbreak as eighth grade comes to an end. The story’s dizzying structure rotates narration among the three male leads—insufferably arrogant Duke, jock Chollie, and class clown Sam—intermingled with English class prompts written by the boys and two of their girlfriends, Miranda and Erica. (Only Duke’s girlfriend, Sharon, gets shut out of telling her side, but she’s a seventh grader, and there is a definite hierarchy at Penn Valley Middle School.) Relationships wobble, the canceled class trip is replaced with an ambitious talent show meant to replicate a night in New York City, and graduation looms, bringing anxiety about the prospect of what awaits in high school. The multiple perspectives offer amusing insights into how the boys and girls view the same episode through completely different lenses, but they aren’t enough to offset the thin characterizations. Readers in search of light humor about middle school romance will find what they’re looking for. Ages 10–up. Agent: Daniel Lazar, Writers House. (May)