His mother coached the middle-school girls' team.

The books are meant to encourage middle-school and high-school girls to have confidence and succeed in mathematics.

It is designed to offer inner-city middle-school girls a chance to work with professional women as role models.

Today as a figure competitor and personal trainer, Latisha is a track coach for middle-school girls track programs in her home state of Ohio.

One middle-school girl asked, "Why do people do this?"

They were mature girls for their age-Keisha, especially-and not shy like the other middle-school girls.

It is suggested as a "lovely story that will reach many middle-school girls."

But perhaps the simplest way to describe its goals would be to say that it tries to make middle-school girls be nice to one another.

The book, aimed at middle-school girls, is written like a diary kept by a young Southern girl during the Civil War.

"That 'wow' factor for a middle-school girl is such a great hook," said James Mulkin, the head of the classics department.