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The Mean Girls of Middle Grade
When I was in high school, I wasn’t in the uber-popular crowd, but I wasn’t an outcast either. I hung out somewhere in the middle, and interestingly enough, it wasn’t the cool kids who picked on us. Nope, the middle had its very own set of bullies. And mine were Kim—who I had always thought was my friend—and Rachel, who set their sights on me because I made the inexcusable mistake of having a shiny silver mini backpack similar to Rachel’s (it was the ’90s—combat boots, plaid shirts, and individualism in the form of silver purses reigned supreme).
Mean girls have been around way longer than Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, and the rest of the dolled-up Plastics from the 2004 comedy written by Tina Fey. And the reality of the mean girls phenomenon is anything but laughable. These girls are bullies, plain and simple, and their tactics often fall into the realm of relational aggression—exclusion, rumor mongering, harassment, threats of not being someone’s friend. It’s just as painful and harmful, if not more so, as physical bullying. At least if someone punches you, you have the black eye to show for it, but a lot of relational aggression often goes unnoticed by teachers and parents.
That said, there’s often a great deal of turmoil simmering beneath the cool exterior of many of these mean girls. Perhaps someone else is bullying them, maybe their parents are neglectful, or it may be that they’re just jealous of their targets. And lots of tween authors are doing a stellar job of capturing what it’s like to be caught in the crosshairs of the class mean girl—as well as the background on why some of these bullies act out the way they do. It can be helpful for kids who are being bullied to see how fictional characters handle these situations and possibly even for the mean girls themselves to identify and change their own behaviors.
Check out our list of some of the notable mean girls of middle grade fiction.
Dork Diaries Boxed Set (Books 1-3): Dork Diaries; Dork Diaries 2; Dork Diaries 3
Rachel Renée Russell
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Mackenzie Hollister (Dork Diaries, by Rachel Renée Russell)
As series protagonist Nikki Maxwell so eloquently puts it, mean girl MacKenzie is “a pit bull in glittery eye shadow and Jimmy Choo flip-flops.” MacKenzie is also the most popular girl at Westchester Country Day Middle School, the queen bee of the CCP (cute, cool, and popular) clique, and an enormous thorn in Nikki’s side as she constantly comes up with new ways to insult, embarrass, and torment Nikki. But underneath MacKenzie’s confident, well-coiffed exterior lies a lot of insecurity. And as readers get to see in Dork Diaries 9: Tales from a Not-So-Dorky Drama Queen when MacKenzie gets a chance to tell her side of the story, MacKenzie’s life isn’t nearly as perfect as she’d like people to believe. And while this certainly doesn’t excuse her behavior, it might offer at least a partial explanation for it.
Medusa (Goddess Girls, by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams)
Mean girls have existed for ages—just look at Greek mythology’s snake-haired, stoneifying Medusa. Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams’ Goddess Girls series gives the myths a tween twist in which the gods, goddesses, and mortal characters are students at Mount Olympus Academy (Zeus is naturally the principal). Medusa is the archenemy of popular goddess girls Athena, Persephone, Aphrodite, and Artemis. In the eighth book in the series, Medusa the Mean, readers learn that Medusa is incredibly jealous of her sisters’ immortality and of the other goddess girls’ popularity, and she thinks she’s figured out a way to have both. Of course, her plans go awry, and Medusa has to find another way to overcome her mean-girl status at MOA.
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Shay (Fish in a Tree, by Lynda Mullaly Hunt)
“[I]f you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its life believing it is stupid.” Sixth-grader Ally thinks she’s dumb. She’s great at math and is artistically inclined, but reading is nearly impossible for her—a secret she attempts to keep from everyone by being a class troublemaker and retreating inward. In reality, she’s a sensitive, lonely girl who struggles with dyslexia, a diagnosis she discovers with the help of a great teacher. Of course, her learning differences and vulnerability make her a prime target for mean girl Shay, who frequently insults and embarrasses her in front of the class. “She’s such a freak,” Shay says in one of those loud whispers that everyone is meant to hear. Readers get a glimpse into Shay’s motives when we see her domineering mother bullying her. Even better: We get to see Ally’s triumph over her learning challenges and her nemesis.
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Mal (Isle of the Lost, by Melissa de la Cruz)
Can the bad apple really fall that far from the evil tree? That’s precisely the question Melissa de la Cruz’s new book Isle of the Lost attempts to answer. Twenty years ago all of the evil villains you know and loathe from Disney classics like Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Aladin, and 101 Dalmations were stripped of their magical powers and banished to the book’s titular island. And now their children are following in their dastardly footsteps, manipulating, lying, stealing, harassing, and intimidating others at every turn. Mal, being the daughter of Maleficent, the biggest baddie of them all, is the evil queen bee of her school and has her bullying sights set on the new girl, Evie, daughter of Evil Queen from Snow White. It turns out Mal—and her mother—still hold a grudge against Evie and her mom for not inviting her to a birthday party years ago. But as hints of some redeeming qualities bubble up to Mal’s steely surface, could it be that deep down there’s more to Mal than being a vengeful bully?
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Alexia (Because of Mr. Terupt, by Rob Buyea)
Seven fifth-grade students narrate this emotional and compelling story over the course of a school year at Snow Hill School in Vermont. They have a new teacher, Mr. Terupt, who has far more to teach them than they could learn in any textbook, but a tragic accident forces them to see themselves and their teacher in a new light. We see the classroom—and the students’ home lives—through the eyes of Jessica, the bookish new girl; Peter, the class cut-up; Luke, the brainiac; Danielle, the girl who never stands up for herself; Jeffrey, the boy who hates school; Anna, the outcast; and Alexia, the resident mean girl. Not only do readers get insight into what compels Alexia to treat people the way she does, but they also get to see one’s capacity for change. Chapters are short, making for a dynamic, fast-paced read.
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Annabelle Jenkins (From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess, by Meg Cabot)
Sixth-grader Annabelle Jenkins proves that girls can be just as guilty of physical bullying as boys, as she threatens to pummel her former friend Olivia Grace Clarisse Mignonette Harrison for being a princess. “No one ever told me, ‘In middle school Annabelle Jenkins is going to threaten to beat you up by the flagpole for absolutely no reason,’” frets Olivia between classes. In fact, Annabelle not only threatens it, she eventually follows through with a swift punch to the face. And while we don’t get much insight into what makes Annabelle tick, we do get to see Olivia handle her bully with grace and compassion in this new middle-grade read from the author of The Princess Diaries.
Who do you think is the biggest middle grade mean girl?