Julie Anne Peters's How Do You Spell Geek? focuses on teenage cliques and the effects of labeling when she pairs a middle school girl with a former homeschooler entering public school for the first time.

This book deals with the theme of competition among best friends as the new student, Lurlene, threatens to disrupt a long-term friendship in her attempt to be accepted in her new school. Peters's book Revenge of the Snob Squad is the first in a series of three books about the Snob Squad. This story focuses on four teenagers who have physical or emotional problems that make them outcasts in middle school. They form a group to get back at the kids that bully them, and Peters delves into the world of middle school cliques to expose the harmful effects of labeling.

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