I Heard a Rumor

How I Survived Middle School #3

by Nancy E. Krulik

Bestselling author Nancy Krulik delves into the mind of a twleve-year-old just trying to survive middle school.

Can you keep a secret? Are you the go-to girl when your friends have a secret to share? Can you be trusted to keep the info under wraps, or are you known for your loose lips?
The debut of the Madame X gossip column has turned Joyce Kilmer Middle School upside down. Whoever Madame X is, she's got her finger on the pulse of the school . . . and the power to turn friends against one another by spreading rumors. Now that Madame X is dishing about things only Jenny and her friends could have known, Jenny is sure of one thing . . . Madame X must be one of her friends!

Genres: Middle Grade, Childrens, Fiction, Juvenile, Young Adult

104 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Nancy Krulik is the author of more than 100 books for children and young adults, including three New York Times bestsellers. She is best known, however, for being the author and creator of the Katie Kazoo Switcheroo book series, which has brought her to the attention of second, third, and fourth graders nationwide.

Nancy has also written extensively for teens and is well known as a biographer of Hollywood's hottest young stars. Her knowledge of the details of celebrities lives has made her a desired guest on several entertainment shows on the E! network as well as on Extra and Access Hollywood. She can be seen there talking about the secret lives of such celebs as Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Hilary Duff, and Frankie Muniz. Nancy has also been a guest on radio broadcasts nationwide discussing the superstars she has researched over the years.

As the author of several teen and preteen advice books, including Grosset and Dunlap's Prom!: The Complete Guide to a Truly Spectacular Night, Nancy has been interviewed by several prominent magazines including Cosmo Girl, Teen, Teen People, Seventeen, and Teen Celebrity. She has also been the celebrity guest for three Teen People chat presentations. Nancy has recently begun to delve into the teen novel market, writing four romances for young adults, all of which will be published between 2004 and 2005.

Nancy currently lives in Manhattan with her husband, composer Daniel Burwasser, their two children, Amanda and Ian, and a crazed cockerspaniel named Pepper .

Reviews

[Ann · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have one thing to say: This school is too stereotypical.

I mean, come on. Popular people who are mean and make fun of other people? We've all seen that before. Unpopular people who are nice? We've seen that too. The protagonist who was once friends with the most popular girl in school? (coughLizzieMcGuirecough13goingon30cough)

It's a very poor storyline as well. And the advertising? Ew. There is a website mentioned in the book which I was hoping to see, but all I got when I typed in the address was scholastic.com.

I can't believe I bought this book. Money horribly spent.

[Mariah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was really great! Although I usually like thiker books. In this how I Survived Middle School Madame X is spreading roumors (more like telling secrets) in the school news paper. It seems a bit wierd at first but its actually really interesting. My favourite thing about this book is the relatability!

[Crystal · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this series. But, the constant reference to middleschoolsurvivaltips.com and the Pops gets old. She has a great group of friends. We need to hear more about them, rather than the Pops.

[Pooja Dimba · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had no plot, and the "mystery" is this story was dumb. I bet anyone who read it, knew it was that Addie girl.
Oh and that Jenny girl is DUMB!

[Shonda · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Joyce Kilmer Middle School has added a new feature to its newspaper: a gossip column written by “Madame X”. No student is safe from having his/her secrets disclosed to the entire school. Jenny McAfee and her friends find themselves at odds when a rumor is written about one of their friends. Soon Jenny doesn’t know if she can trust anyone. To make matters worse, her former best friend Addy, now a “Pop” is being nice to her. Does Addy want to be Jenny’s BFF again? Or has Madame X’s exposure of the Pops’ secrets driven a wall between Addy and her popular friends?

I Heard a Rumor is book three of “How I Survived Middle School” series. Join Jenny and her friends as they maneuver their way through 6th grade and deal with the day-to-day antics of the Pops.

[Afifa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmmmm...... Where to start..... This whole series is so repetative...... Like percy Jackson. Heres what happens: Addie and Jenny Fight/compete over something. The same charecter always wins( you casn probably guess who that is) And than thats it. Although this one and the 1st one are different. this one was probably the 2nd best in the series. The first one was the best. But like I said the rest of them are VERY repetative and Cliche. Also... Chick Flick is not exactly my best genre. The absolute most I could give this book is 3 stars. And thats even ALOT in this case......

[Jillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like the How I Survived Middle School series, but can someone just answer one question for me? Who in the hell has a gossip column in their school newspaper? Or even has a school newspaper in middle school? I know high schools that didn't have the money to have one. The premise itself is ludicrous to me, but I still enjoyed I Heard A Rumor. As per usual, I took all the quizzes in the book. That might actually be my favorite part.

[Ling Juan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book.It talks about two girls Addie and Jenny that were best friends in elementary school. When they got to middle school, Addie started to change.Addie became one of the pops in the school and she started to be mean to Jenny!....

[claud.]

okay, idk what happened as i loved the first two books but this one kinda flopped for me? the premise was super interesting but i thought it was executed poorly and it was just boring. reading the first two books was super nostalgic but reading this third one kind of made me snap out of it and made me remember that i'm reading a book aimed for middle schoolers and that i am definitely not the target audience.

[Shaine Woo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is really cool because it's about a girl and her friends. There were also a group of pops (popular people) who also heard this rumour in a newspaper, and it's just a really cool book.

[Bookworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I read these now I would probably hate them, but as a kid I actually kind of liked them. They were fun quick reads.

[Piper Gibson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave this book 5 stars because it was gripping. I liked all the quizzes in it.

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reviewed by Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com

Nancy Krulik once again helps calm the nerves of new middle schoolers by combining a fun story with helpful bits of advice on how to survive the many trials of life.

Jenny McAfee swears by the help she gets from middleschoolsurvival.com, and again she uses it to get her friends back on track. First it's Chloe who is acting strange. She is sort of keeping to herself and turning down any and all invitations to do cool stuff after school. When asked about the upcoming dance, she is vague and lacks enthusiasm. What's up?

According to the quiz Jenny finds on her favorite website, Chloe is hiding a romantic relationship from her friends. When that information suddenly appears in the school newspaper in Madame X's gossip column, Jenny and her friends are shocked.

Chloe confronts everyone with the truth - her father lost his job so the family finances are not prepared to handle the fun stuff like dances. She insists that she feels badly that she won't be able to join her friends, but she assures them she is not hiding anything from them anymore.

Jenny decides to consult her website for a solution to Chloe's problem. The solution seems to be to earn the money needed to buy a new dress for the dance. That begins a series of bungled attempts to start a business to help Chloe. The idea may be a good one, but the girls' skills -- or lack of skills -- say otherwise. They may not earn much money, but their attempts provide great comic effect.

Aimed at younger readers, Krulik's HOW I SURVIVED MIDDLE SCHOOL series will most definitely have a following. Her situations are realistic enough to seem plausible, and her use of the website and its helpful quizzes are sure to attract many tween readers.

[Jessica Ong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary'
This story is about a school news paper and what went wrong when Madame X started to post a comlumn leading fights and gossip. Everything was going right then BANG some Madame X got in to it and started to spead romours through the school paper about her Best friends saying that she has a boyfriend , then moves on to warning people about Middle School documentary that Marc is making, causeing everyone to run away from his camera. So Jenny the main character of the story is doing what every she can to stop Madame X - before it goes to far and its to late.
Why I picked up this book'
I picked up this book because I was bored and hadent read this book since last year.
Why I finished this book.
I finished this book because I was done my homework and was bored.
Who I recommend this book to.
I recommend this book to My cousin Vanessa because this book is an easy read .

[Verkilya Hogan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is somewhat similar to the TV show, Pretty Little Liars, because there's this one person that knows everyone's secret. And this one person identifies them-self as a letter. In P.L.L. the group represents themselves as A, and in this book, I Heard A Rumor, the person identified herself as Madame X. And this person would try to spread rumors around the school about every one. So, I thought this book was really good, because I didn't know who Madame X was, so I had to keep reading the book and find clues to help me find out the identity of Madame X. Usually it's a bad person in the story. And I was right, it turns out to be Addie. I liked Addie at first, but when she revealed her close friends, Dana and Claire's, secrets out to the school. I thought that was so mean of her. I would never want to have a Friend like Addie.

[Ariana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is somewhat similar to the TV show, Pretty Little Liars, because there's this one person (or more) that knows everyone's secret. And this one person identifies them-self as a letter. In P.L.L. the group represents themselves as A, and in this book, I Heard A Rumor, the person identified herself as Madame X. And this person would try to spread rumors around the school about every one. So, I thought this book was really good, because I didn't know who Madame X was, so I had to keep reading the book and find clues to help me find out the identity of Madame X. Usually it's a bad person in the story. And I was right, it turns out Addie, the antagonist of the book was Madame X. She even revealed her close friends, Dana and Claire's secrets out to the school. I think that's mean.

[Red Tash · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm going to give this one a four because it's so well-formulated to hit the mark with most middle school girls. It has quizzes, "Rules for Survival," faux articles on hairstyles & things of that nature inserted amid the constant references to the book's website (which, in the story, is a stand-alone). It focuses on the kind of interpersonal drama (are we still friends now that you're more popular than me?) that haunts us well into adulthood, and it's all sandwiched on 100 pages between two very stylish covers.

Personally, I'd rather read Dear Dumb Diary, but given the choice, I would still give this series to my daughter to read over Dork Diaries, ANY ANY ANY day and twice on Sunday.

[Dani · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was like watching an episode of a favorite sitcom. All the relationships were set up in the first two books, so it didn't take long to read. My 12-year-old twins and I finished it in no time flat.

[Grace H · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book, a rumor spreading by the school newspaper and the rumor was about Jenny so she has a trouble with it and she find out who's the criminal that spread the rumor. If you like to read realistic book, you should try this book and it has a nice and interesting story.

[™yourbeautifulnightmaree™ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This boook from the series is baseically putting the message out to not put rumors about your friends out it comes back to bite you i the butt!

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

That Jenny is a lot like me.

[Hippiegirl97]

cool

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is great! About a girl named Jenny who has 4 years to learn the ways of middle school.
Also: she includes tips for surviving in middle school!

[Alvina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love it!! Jessica recommend it and I think I would recommend it to middle school girls..

[Ellen]

This book is really great to read.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was so awesome.I loved it so much!

[Tina · Rating 2 out of 5]

it was ok. easy read.

[Chloe]

That book was a little perditible

[Shanjida begum · Rating 5 out of 5]

DONT EVER WRITE STUFF ABOUT YOUR FRIENDS!!!!

[Mas5thgrade · Rating 1 out of 5]

it was grat and I learned that you shouldn't spread rumors and nobody should spread rumors any way true r not