How To Ruin Your Life: and Other Lessons You Don't Learn in School

Penelope Jane Parker – better known as PJ – is a precocious, sociable nine-year-old who, in the spring of her Grade 4 year, is keen to show her abilities as a sprinter in the annual track meet. Her best friend, Katie, has no interest in competing knowing that PJ will win. So to help her friend, PJ slows down during warm-ups to allow Katie to win and feel better about herself. But on the day of the race when PJ slows down, Katie surges ahead and wins the race, resulting in a spiral of jealousy and anger between the two.