Seeing this on the shelves of many teachers, I simply picked it up for my own library. Forgotten for many months, I saw that it was made into a movie....so I read it.
On top of being a young adult book, this one is told in alternating voices, which I LOVE. Julianna and Bryce are neighbors. Julianna has long been head-over-heels about Bryce and Bryce, well, Bryce thinks Julianna is capital-A-annoying. Their story starts just before second grade and moves through their early teens.
Their feelings for each other fluctuate and change with the seasons, as they ride the same bus to school and are nearly always in the same class. Julianna raises baby chicks as a result of a science project and proceeds to keep them in her backyard, starting a business selling the eggs to neighbors. Bryce thinks this is nuts, and is repelled by the amount of chicken poop that accumulates in such a small space. Bryce's grandfather moves in with the family, revealing family tensions that he never knew existed. As Bryce has also become the typical BMOC, he keeps these things to himself.
Essentially, the culmination of two events leads to understanding: a zoning issue with a sycamore tree and a school auction wherein Bryce is one of the items. Julianna and Bryce both end up gleaning that you can know someone a very long time without ever actually knowing who they are. A lesson that we can all be reminded of from time to time.
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