That's Life, Samara Brooks (review)

Samara's parents have a habit of dropping bombs at family dinners; last year it was the fact that she was adopted, and this year, they want her to try to fit in better at school, to make some friends rather than spending all of her spare time at Blackjack.com. Samara fancies herself a con artist rather than someone who blends into the crowd, so her device to gain friends is to set up a blackjack table in the school cafeteria at lunch. Among her victims (the house always wins, after all) are class president Lily and a geeky boy named Nathan, who spends his time trying to prove the existence of aliens. The principal wants to blame Samara for corrupting Lily, but Samara comes up with yet another con—to use the school's electron microscope to prove, through DNA analysis, that she and Lily are the same. Though the book musters plausible explanations for why the school has an electron microscope in the first place and why a girl like Lily is attracted to gambling, the plot here depends entirely too much on fortuitous coincidences and implausible scenarios, such as a principal's allowing DNA testing of students to take the place of suspension for gambling. The flirtation with spirituality through coincidence, probability, medieval codes and the pursuit of alien life forms is handled with a glib insouciance that belies any strong thematic point other than the ability of disparate people to transcend differences and form lasting friendships through the pursuit of quirkiness. However, the lunchroom card sharp is a novel premise, and lonely kids with mathish tendencies will enjoy speculating along with Samara about how cosmic mysteries apply to middle-school politics.