by Dixie Huthmaker
What does the world have against twelve-year-olds? Anna Browning desperately wants to be thirteen. First, she’s forced to wait a year to audition for the All-City Youth Orchestra, then the language arts teacher disqualifies Anna from the school spelling bee-all because she’s twelve. Add to Anna’s problems: a bully named Mark Pointer, Nibbles the runaway hamster, a gazillion pairs of unpainted tennis shoes and the dreaded half-position on her viola. “Half position is a piece of cake,” said Cristin, Anna’s best friend. But Anna isn’t so sure…