Moving Day (Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls, #1)

by Meg Cabot

Moving Day is the first in Meg Cabot's hilarious series for younger readers, Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls.

Allie Finkle is ten years old. She's got two annoying little brothers and a dog called Marvin. She's also got a bunch of rules - most of them, like 'Don't get a pet that poops in your hand', having been discovered through bitter experience. In this funny, fast-moving series, Allie makes (and breaks) rules all over the place as she deals with everything that life can throw at her.

In Moving Day Allie absolutely does not want to move house. Moving means leaving behind her pretty pink room and her best friend, Mary Kay. The new house is cold, old, dark and creepy, and there is almost definitely a zombie hand living in the attic! Listening to your parents is a golden rule, but how can Allie convince her family that moving is a very bad idea?

• ISBN10: 060606818X
• ISBN13: 9780606068185
• Publish Date: 3 February 2009 (first published 1 March 2008)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 17 March 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Turtleback Books
• Edition: Turtleback School & Library ed.
• Format: Hardcover (Library Binding)
• Pages: 228
• Language: English

Reviews

I first read The Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls series, when I was leaving my tweens and entering my teens. I'm now reading this series again as an adult, so obviously I'm not the intended target market anymore, but I wanted to see whether I'd still enjoy The Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls series years later.

Allie Finkle is a 9 year old who acts and sounds like a real 9 year old. She's a well-rounded character and animal lover who's adventurous, brave and likable. She also has a book of rules that she lives by; some silly such as "Never eat anything red", some hilarious such as, "Don't stick a spatula down your best friend's throat" and some that are life lessons, such as "Pretend like you don't care when someone is insulting you, and don't cry. That way, you win."

In Moving Day, the Finkle family is moving into a dark and old Gothic-looking house that could possibly be haunted and Allie is trying her best to stop her family from moving. Allie doesn't want to leave her pretty pink bedroom behind or get killed by the zombie hand in the attic. However, moving isn't the only thing that a 9 year old has to deal with. There's a new school, new friends and changing friendships. Moving Day has plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. My favourite scenes involve a school food fight and a turtle from Lung Chung restaurant.

Moving Day is a trademark Meg Cabot novel that is aimed at tweens and is full of relatable and humourous moments. Unfortunately, while some childhood series stand the test of time, it seems like I've outgrown the Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls series.