This book was written by award winning author Nikki Grimes. She has written plenty of children's books mainly focusing on things that middle-aged children could relate to. The story of Planet Middle School is about a middle-aged girl by the name of Joylin that is facing a few obstacles in middle school. The book goes on to tell a story about her experiences in school and how she went about making changes about herself as if she felt like she was different from "typical middle school girls". Joylin was portrayed as a tom-boyish girl that loves hanging with boys and playing sports. Later down the way, she meets a boy by the name of Santiago and her world turns upside down. Joylin began wearing make-up, skirts, and even got her ears pierced, all for Santiago. Her friends eventually noticed that she is doing it for the wrong reason, a boy.

Planet Middle School is an open-verse written book. It consists of poetry that made me sort of hesitant to read it, at first. This book is very neatly put together and easy to understand when reading. I highly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys reading short poems on a children's level. The book wasn't a sad story at all. It pretty much had its funny moments as well as serious. It's a nice coming of age story filled with humor and life lessons. This book can definitely get young female readers interested. The most focused part of the story is that Joylin is trying to find her place and make sense of the changes in her body. I was so surprised by how much I became interested in this book because this isn't a book i would see myself being interested in, but i became really interested in this one.