When Sta­cy Fried­man catch­es her best friend kiss­ing the boy Sta­cy likes, she utters the fate­ful title words and un-invites Lydia to her big day. Expe­ri­ence and a kind rab­bi help Sta­cy to mature just enough to start think­ing about oth­ers a bit, and to make up with Lydia in the nick of time. This frothy ​“chick-lit” sto­ry will be great­ly enjoyed by pre­teen girls for its TV-style screw­ball com­e­dy, its depic­tion of rela­tion­ships (both friend­ship and romance), and its focus on fash­ion. Par­ents may wish for some­thing more sub­stan­tive, with more empha­sis on Judaism and lessons learned, but young read­ers will delight in this light, enter­tain­ing read about mod­ern Reform Jew­ish kids. The basics of Jew­ish cul­ture and prac­tice are com­fort­ably assumed to be famil­iar to all read­ers in this post-Sein­feld era, and non-Jew­ish read­ers will like­ly find the sto­ry easy to relate to.

While read­ers may not learn much about the real mean­ing behind the bat mitz­vah cer­e­mo­ny through this sto­ry, it is encour­ag­ing to see Jew­ish char­ac­ters depict­ed in such a con­fi­dent and main­stream man­ner. Rec­om­mend­ed for Reform and Con­ser­v­a­tive Jew­ish libraries and for non-Jew­ish col­lec­tions as well. Ages 11 – 14.