"Taneesha's voice--brave and scared, funny, defiant, and bold--is one many kids will recognize." Kathe Koja, author

Dang! In TANEESHA NEVER DISPARAGING, eleven year-old Taneesha Bey-Ross puts up with more mess than any fifth-grader should have to. For one thing, she’s getting tired of being her best friend Carli Flanagan’s bodyguard. In Taneesha's neighborhood in North Cleveland, Ohio, wearing a leg brace contraption, walking with a limp, and being white makes Carli stick way out. And standing up for Carli might just be the last move Taneesha makes in this lifetime. 

See, after school, when Taneesha screams "You're being mean and stupid!" at this giant teenage girl that's picking on Carli, the girl promises Taneesha will pay. And with her super-sized fists and stomping army boots, that girl is plenty big and bad enough to keep her word. What’s more, Taneesha’s running a loser’s race for class president. So one way or the other, she owes a big fat “thanks for nothing” to Carli—first for nominating her and second for putting her on the hit list of a juvenile delinquent.

On top of everything else, Taneesha’s teacher, Mr. Alvarez, points his mean streak straight at her whenever he feels like it and Rayshaun Parker’s a butt-pain. He’s the irritating boy who, way back in kindergarten, dropped his plans to marry Taneesha and started saying she was going to hell all because he found out her family’s Buddhist. 

Speaking of family, Taneesha’s parents might as well be earless when it comes to listening to her. So why should she even bother telling them her life’s in danger from a teenage ogre girl? And Taneesha's imaginary evil twin, Evella, blabs on and on about the zillions of reasons why she, Taneesha, is a total failure at everything—even at stuff she hasn’t tried to do yet.