From Publishers Weekly
In contrast to the recent spate of books that focus on bullying (e.g., Rosalind Wiseman's Queen Bees and Wannabees and Rachel Simmons's Odd Girl Out), Washington Post education reporter Perlstein examines all facets of being an ordinary "tween." She discusses such issues as consumerism (according to Perlstein, 12- to 15-year-olds spend on average $59 a week, not counting money their parents spend on them); romance, which doesn't necessarily imply the couple ever spends time alone together; and the phenomenon of instant messaging-all to give parents of young children an idea of what lies ahead. True, much can be learned from reading catalogues and magazines geared specifically to preteens, like Delia's catalogue, CosmoGIRL! and YM, but Perlstein delves deeper into how boys and girls view life by tracking five students at Wilde Lake Middle School in Columbia, Md., a "rough" suburban school in an affluent area. Her subjects include the likable eighth-grader Eric Ellis, who is very bright and very bored, and seventh-graders Jackie Taylor, who is learning to deal with crushes on boys, and Elizabeth Ginsburg, whose favorite answer to her parents' questions is "nothing." There are also sixth-graders Jimmy Schissel, who is unhappy with his changing body, and Lily Mason, who worries about wearing-and doing-the right thing. In addition to details about the children's confirmations, bat mitzvahs, friendships and homework, Perlstein interweaves information about how middle-school children learn best and what parents can do to help.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From School Library Journal
In this groundbreaking study, Perlstein chronicles the frightening and fascinating lives of the kids, teachers, and parents she grew to know intimately during a year in Columbia, MD. She introduces Eric, a bright but unmotivated African-American boy hobbled by his home life, and Elizabeth, an overachieving only child whose doting folks try to help her navigate a year of competitive swimming, her Bat Mitzvah, and pressures none of them really comprehend. She also profiles Jackie, who has become so "relationship" obsessed that her world resembles a soap opera. Sixth-graders Jimmy, whose body changes have him simultaneously terrified and thrilled, and Lily, who agonizes over what constitutes "cool" in a world where nothing makes sense anymore, are just beginning to move into the mysterious hall of mirrors that is middle school. Deft writing punctuated by well-documented observations bring these people and the depths of their challenges to life. In this subculture of suffocating peer pressure, burgeoning sexuality, obsessive gaming, gay bashing, and "IM"ing, no one emerges unscathed. Readers will emerge more knowledgeable, more understanding, and more than a little concerned for the future of all of us.-Mary R. Hofmann, Rivera Middle School, Merced, CA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist
Perlstein, education reporter for the Washington Post, chronicles a school year at a suburban Maryland middle school, exploring the changes in personalities and school performance of students caught between childhood and high school. Focusing on five students and their friends, Perlstein observes the erratic changes in their bodies and their relationships with parents, teachers, and friends as they navigate the confusion that is middle school. She recounts their almost mindless conversations, which belie their hidden anxieties and longings. Parents and teachers cope with the sudden difficulties in communicating with middle-schoolers whose grades often suffer because of distractions posed by vicious gossip, ever-shifting friendships, budding--and sometimes full-blown--sexual interest, and video games and the Internet. In fact, Perlstein cites declining motivation as the foremost complaint about middle-schoolers. Parents and teachers will recognize the heartbreaking portrayals of these students and appreciate the insights Perlstein offers into their lives. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
"Not Much Just Chillin' takes the reader to a mystical place - the changing world of the middle schooler - never before visited in this personal way. Every parent, teacher, principal and friend of an adolescent can gain useful insights from this book. Linda Perlstein has done a great service for education by spending a year with these boys and girls in their classrooms, homes and during their personal times and then eloquently chronicling their complicated lives."
--Richard W. Riley, former Secretary of Education

"Linda Perlstein has managed to embed herself in the lives and minds of middle schoolers, thoroughly capturing both the major issues and the minutiae that govern the course of these crucial years. A terrific read for parents and other adults who need to navigate along with them."
--Rachel Simmons, author of Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls

"A fascinating window onto what goes on in the world and in the heads of middle schoolers. Linda Perlstein has a wonderful and compassionate way of presenting their incredibly poignant day-to-day stories. A truly valuable book."
--Anthony E. Wolf Ph.D., author of Get Out of My Life, But First Could You Drive Me And Cheryl To The Mall?



Review
"Not Much Just Chillin' takes the reader to a mystical place - the changing world of the middle schooler - never before visited in this personal way. Every parent, teacher, principal and friend of an adolescent can gain useful insights from this book. Linda Perlstein has done a great service for education by spending a year with these boys and girls in their classrooms, homes and during their personal times and then eloquently chronicling their complicated lives."
--Richard W. Riley, former Secretary of Education

"Linda Perlstein has managed to embed herself in the lives and minds of middle schoolers, thoroughly capturing both the major issues and the minutiae that govern the course of these crucial years. A terrific read for parents and other adults who need to navigate along with them."
--Rachel Simmons, author of Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls

"A fascinating window onto what goes on in the world and in the heads of middle schoolers. Linda Perlstein has a wonderful and compassionate way of presenting their incredibly poignant day-to-day stories. A truly valuable book."
--Anthony E. Wolf Ph.D., author of Get Out of My Life, But First Could You Drive Me And Cheryl To The Mall?



Book Description
A report from the front lines of the most formative-and least understood-years of children's lives

Suddenly they go from striving for A's to barely passing, or obsessing for hours over "boyfriends" they've barely spoken to. Former chatterboxes answer in monosyllables; free-thinkers mimic their peers' clothes, not to mention their opinions. Bodies and psyches morph under the most radical changes since infancy. On the surface, they're "just chillin'." Underneath, they're a stew of anxiety and ardor, conformity and rebellion. They are kids in the middle school years, the age every adult remembers well enough to dread. No one understands them, not parents, not teachers, least of all themselves-no one, that is, until Linda Perlstein spent a year immersed in the lives of suburban Maryland middle-schoolers and emerged with this pathbreaking account.

The book traverses the school year, following five representative kids-and including the stories of many more-as they study, party, IM each other, and simply explain what they think and feel. As Perlstein writes about what she saw and heard, she explains what's really going on under the don't-touch-me facade of these critically formative years, in which kids grapple with schoolwork, puberty, romance, identity, and new kinds of relationships with their parents and peers. Not Much Just Chillin' offers a trail map to the baffling no-man's-land between child and teen, the time when children don't want to grow up, and so badly do.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Prizewinning education reporter Linda Perlstein spent a year immersed in the lunchroom, classrooms, hearts, and minds of a group of suburban Maryland middle schoolers and emerged with this pathbreaking account. The book traverses the school year, following five representative kids - and including the stories of many more - as they study, flirt, fight, and simply explain what they think and feel. Perlstein reveals what's really going on under kid's don't-touch-me facade while they grapple with schoolwork, puberty, romance, identity, and new kinds of relationships with their parents and peers. Not Much Just Chillin' offers a trial map to the baffling no-man's-land between child and teen, the time when children don't want to grow up - and so badly do.

FROM THE CRITICS

The New Yorker

Catherine Hardwicke’s new film, “Thirteen,” has once again raised the issue of adolescent girls’ social rituals, especially the more brutal aspects. The same topic propels two recent books, Rachel Simmons’s Odd Girl Out and Queen Bees and Wannabes, by Rosalind Wiseman. According to Simmons, adolescent female culture is fraught with treachery and strained niceties (“alternative aggressions,” she calls them) that are more reminiscent of a sixteenth-century court than a sweet-sixteen party. Wiseman, whose book has been released in paperback, includes a set of charts that plot “power plays” and track the ascendance of a socially dominant girl, a “Queen Bee” among the drones. But by collecting the byzantine stories of betrayal, both authors provide a tonic to social isolation: as Simmons puts it, “What crushed girls was being alone.” Linda Perlstein came to a similar conclusion in her interviews with Maryland middle-schoolers in Not Much Just Chillin'. For all their rebellion, experimentation, and body piercing, kids still want to be reached by their coaches, teachers, and even parents. “Wanting to be independent is not the same as wanting to be left alone,” Perlstein writes. The sixth to eighth graders she interviews have complex opinions on justice, religion, and mortality -- while adults fret over whether video games create irrational fears of violence, students formulate sophisticated responses to events such as the terrorist attacks of September 11th. And one seventh-grade girl is equally philosophical about love: “The one for you could be two years old right now, or ninety. My soulmate could’ve been Benjamin Franklin.” (Lauren Porcaro)

Publishers Weekly

In contrast to the recent spate of books that focus on bullying (e.g., Rosalind Wiseman's Queen Bees and Wannabees and Rachel Simmons's Odd Girl Out), Washington Post education reporter Perlstein examines all facets of being an ordinary "tween." She discusses such issues as consumerism (according to Perlstein, 12- to 15-year-olds spend on average $59 a week, not counting money their parents spend on them); romance, which doesn't necessarily imply the couple ever spends time alone together; and the phenomenon of instant messaging-all to give parents of young children an idea of what lies ahead. True, much can be learned from reading catalogues and magazines geared specifically to preteens, like Delia's catalogue, CosmoGIRL! and YM, but Perlstein delves deeper into how boys and girls view life by tracking five students at Wilde Lake Middle School in Columbia, Md., a "rough" suburban school in an affluent area. Her subjects include the likable eighth-grader Eric Ellis, who is very bright and very bored, and seventh-graders Jackie Taylor, who is learning to deal with crushes on boys, and Elizabeth Ginsburg, whose favorite answer to her parents' questions is "nothing." There are also sixth-graders Jimmy Schissel, who is unhappy with his changing body, and Lily Mason, who worries about wearing-and doing-the right thing. In addition to details about the children's confirmations, bat mitzvahs, friendships and homework, Perlstein interweaves information about how middle-school children learn best and what parents can do to help. Agent, Gail Ross. (Sept. 4) Forecast: Although Perlstein doesn't break any ground the way the bullying books did, parents eager to know more about what it's going to be like when their kids get to middle school will find this helpful. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

VOYA - SheilaB. Anderson

This anthropological study of middle schoolers is fascinating and informative. Perlstein, a reporter embedded in a suburban Columbia, Maryland, middle school, chronicles a year in the life of several "tweens"—youth who are barely teens but no longer children. Much like A Tribe Apart by Patricia Hersch (Ballantine 1998/VOYA, The View from VOYA, August 1998), this study digs into the hearts and minds of youth. Especially valuable for librarians and parents is the information about how life changes for this age group once it leaves elementary school behind. Not only are their bodies changing, but also their social lives and academic demands alter. The book is divided by season, beginning with autumn, and as time progresses, the author illustrates how middle schoolers quickly lose their innocence and inhibitions. An intriguing aspect of the study is how middle schoolers use instant messaging to communicate with each other. Chapter two, "Everyone Else Thinks It's a Stupid Plane Crash," describes the apathy and fear felt by students during the terrorist attacks on September 11. Whereas the teachers attempt to explain the significance of the day, some middle schoolers simply see it as a day when they got to leave school early. The author intersperses information about adolescent development with observations of students. The book will be valuable to youth service workers and parents who want to learn more about the significant changes faced by teens when they enter middle school. It is highly recommended for public libraries, school libraries, and current and future young adult librarians. 2003, Farrar Straus Giroux, 261p.; Biblio. Source Notes., Ages adult professional.

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