Meg Cabot

Oh, Meg Cabot. What must it be like to be a best selling children's/YA author, beloved by tweens and the Disney machine? With the ability to move effortlessly between children's and young adult literature, sprinkling in pop culture references without it being beyond lame or outdated, Meg Cabot makes it look soooo easy. She's obviously doing something right; she reportedly has more than 15 million copies of her books in print. For any author, that's remarkable. For a children's/YA author, that's very rare.

Although her best known series is The Princess Diaries, she's also getting attention for her newest series, Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls. Her latest entry in this series, The New Girl, follows Allie through her first months at her new elementary school. Although understandably nervous about her new situation, Allie soon finds her new clique at school, but not without crossing paths with one of the school's biggest bullies. She also gets involved with the school spelling bee, adopts a new kitten, and visits with her (opinionated) grandmother.

Yes, some may say that the bully situation wraps up a bit too neatly (however, that could change in the next book), but it's not entirely off base for elementary school. Allie Finkle is an adorable character, and many elementary girls will eagerly await the next book in this series.