In Sloppy Firsts, the original Jessica Darling book, Jessica is seriously depressed, but also completely self-aware and precocious. In Jessica Darling's It List 3, Jessica faces the potentially mortifying outcome of the Top Secret Pineville Junior High Crushability Test. The IT List instructions from her sister, Bethany, and an epic slumber party may help Jessica secure her spot in the cool clique, but does she even want it? The only four tasks on the list are: always wear something different every day, make the CHEER TEAM! For those of you who have not read the Sloppy Firsts/Jessica Darling series, I urge you to do so immediately, and for those of you who have already read the SF/JD series, you will understand my pure, unadulterated, utter, blissful, mondo joy at reading this book and re-entering the head of Miss Jessica Notso Darling.

The one thing that bugged me, and it didn't even really bug me, was the small exchanges between Marcus and Jessica. McCafferty noted that "Books for teens have taken a huge beating in the media" in the aftermath of the incident. The day before seventh grade begins, twelve-year-old Jessica Darling gets a list from her sister, whose popularity and beauty made her a junior-high standout, but when she tries to follow it, all goes awry, including losing her best friend.This book would be an excellent gift for people you know entering middle school (which is, what, sixth grade now? I have spent the last year wrapped up in this romance with books full of all kinds of drama and debauchery. Don't get me wrong, I loved Marcus in this, but I feel like he was just there because what's a Jessica Darling book without Marcus Flutie?

I haven’t read this book since I was in seventh grade, but reading this as a sophomore in college took me right back to that time. For Jess, her sister Bethany guides her with a list of things to accomplish to have a great school experience, she needs to choose a great boyfriend, join cheer group and make the right friends. Manda and Sara are kind of similar to who they will be in Sloppy Firsts, but Jessica’s friendship with Hope and some of the cross-country team girls deepens in this book. Now, I'm thrilled to turn back the clock and watch her navigate the highs and lows of seventh grade. She’ll also recruit new fans that are maybe a touch too young for the regular series’ decidedly mature focus and tone.The novel represents life as a middle school student, it shows all the drama of middle school in just 240 short pages, and it leaves you thinking and feeling bad for poor Jessica.