Allie Finkle’s Rules For Girls Books In Order

Publication Order of Allie Finkle's Rules For Girls Books

“Allie Finkle’s Rules For Girls” is a book series by Meg Cabot the New York Times bestselling author that is best known for writing over 80 novels in the children’s, young adult, and adult genres. Meg was born in Bloomington, Indiana but lived in Carmel, California and Grenoble, France before she relocated to New York after getting her fine arts bachelors degree from Indiana University. She worked for a decade at the New York University, where she was assistant residence hall director, an experience she chronicled in the “Heather Wells” mystery series. Some of her other successful series include “The Boy is Back”, “Boy Next Door/Boy Meets Girl”, “Avalon High”, and “All-American Girl”. Cabot’s first ever adult series was “Royal Wedding” that was the first of the “Princess Diaries” series that came out in 2015 that was later followed by “Notebook of a Middle School Princess” that was targeted to younger readers. The Cabot books are fast paced romps that employ the spill the beans as you go style that many teenage works adopt. However, the novels come with a spirited fizz that she draws from her experiences as a child and teenager as compared to her contemporaries that draw most of their material from research. In her Allie Finkle’s series she writes for middle graders while distilling that special theme of justice and fairness and having fun while at it.

Meg Cabot remains the reigning queen of the young adult and middle school genre, churning out characters with steady heads and attitude to burn. Her novels combine witty comebacks with urban culture in situations that will make her readers snort with glee. The series that debuted in 2008 features Allie Finkle, a nine-year-old child with the manner of deduction, keen fashion sense, and an articulation which could put a thirty year old to shame. Finkle is a sassy, charming, and endearing protagonist who is wading through the tribulations of attending a new school, a new home, and making new friends. Cabot’s writing in the Allie Finkle novels is spot on as it is peppered with funny incidents, wry humor, and is never condescending. The novels of the series have a looser feel as compared to what Cabot typically writes. Writing for a younger demographic, Meg mirrors the time warp experience that are so typical of childhood. For instance, Allie goes from playing Dollhouse with Mary to thinking about all the fantastic experiences that await her in her new house.

The lead character in the Allie Finkle’s Rules For Girls series of novels is Allie Finkle who tells the narratives in the first person. The biggest headache for the fourth grader is that her parents have decided sell their their nice house and move to a huge Victorian mansion that at first glance was a little creepy. It has these big and dark windows that she thought looked like massive eyes looking down on them. Worse still, she has to leave behind Mary Kay Shiner her slightly annoying friend, her elementary school she was so used to, and her geode collection. It is now up to Allie to adapt for the move and make the best of it once the family moves across town. In preparation for the move, she makes a set of rules that form the titles of the novels in the Allie Finkle books. Some of these are very funny and comedic such as “Don’t put your cat in a suitcase”. But when it comes to the life aspects such as friendship it becomes elusive given that you cannot make rules for the erratic nature of human relationships. Alongside Finkle are her Max and Kevin her two little brothers, Mrs. Hunter her beautiful new teacher, her uncle, her father, and mother. Throughout the course of the novels, Allie has to deal with a lot including the distractions that a typical nine year old has such as her new kitten, Rosemary the bully, and the spelling bee among others.

“Moving Day” the first novel in the series introduces the lead character Allie Finkle, a middle graderforced to make a list of rules to make sense of a befuddling world. Some of her rules include “Never eat anything red” and “Don’t stick a spatula down your best friend’s throat”. Her list comes in even more handy when she learns that her parents intend to move the family to a huge Victorian house in a wealthier part of town. Even though The neighborhood has her favorite Dairy Queen, a new teacher, a girl next door that she can be friends with, and she will be allowed to have a new kitten, she wishes everything just stayed the same. Allie is convinced that the new house has ghosts and does not want to ever move into it, despite her parent’s assurances that it will be the most awesome time of her life. She intends to put her secretly journaled rules to work to sabotage her parents plans to sell her current house.

“The New Girl” opens to Allie having moved to her new house where she finds nothing was as bad as she thought it would be. She gets to make new friends, has the best teacher in the school, and sits beside her new best friend. It is even better when she learns that the fifth graders really like her brother Kevin. However, she has only one problem; Rosemary the meanest bully who just happens to be her classmate hates her guts. Allie does not know what she did to make Rosemary hate her so much and turns to her grandmother, uncle, and dad for advice. Her grandmother wants her to report the girl, her uncle tells her to psych out the girl, while her father asks her to fight back. She does not want to be a tattle tale, never thinks Rosemary will be intimidated by anything she could do, and she does not want to fight. Rosemary does not let up throughout the novel and continues to threaten Allie with violence. When the ultimate resolution comes it is sweet, short and to the point, making for a very innovative solution to a problem every middle grader likely has to confront at one time or another.