The Writing on the Wall by Wendy Lichtman

Tess isn’t really looking forward to her second semester of 8th grade. After making enemies last semester with Richard, Tess knows that life won’t be enjoyable. Her suspicions are confirmed when she finds that Richard tore entries out of her journal, stole her backpack and even squirted cranberry juice on her sweatshirt. The only things Tess can look forward to each day is hanging out with her friends and going to Algebra, her favorite class of the day. On the way to school one day Tess notices a set of math problems painted on the big graffiti wall behind a nearby church and her math obsessed brain starts to churn. Could these problems possibly be a code? When there is a fire in the computer lab at school Tess definitely thinks she’s onto something and hopes to crack the graffiti code. Even though she knows she could get in trouble, will Tess risk writing on the wall to solve the problem?

First of all I was a little skeptical of the book. While it was cool that Tess was a math geek, like me, I wasn’t sure I would like the book because it appealed to a younger audience and I hadn’t read the first book in the series, Secrets, Lies and Algebra. Wow was I proved wrong! I enjoyed every aspect of the book and ended up really, really liking it. It was completely unnecessary to read the first book and very easy to relate to Tess. I was always anxious to read what was coming next and wasn’t able to predict anything. I especially enjoyed how real the novel was. The ending wasn’t perfect, the characters weren’t exempt from certain situations, and the characters were completely enjoyable. I highly recommend this book for all reader, but I think middle grade readers will particularly enjoy Writing on the Walls. All in all a really good book that will satisfy a hunger for mystery, humor, a little romance, or maybe all three.

*This book will be released on May 27, 2008