Viola in Reel Life was exactly the sort of book I needed to read today, on a kinda-dismal day in the life of Shelf Elf. This is a feel-good, angst-free story, well-constructed, with a charming protagonist and a solid cast of supporting characters. (Complete aside: don’t you love the cover? I would feel immediately sunnier if had my own pair of happy yellow shoes, I’m sure of it!)

Adriana Trigiani makes her YA debut with Viola, and her first effort makes me curious to read her next YA offering. In film-review lingo, Viola in Reel Life is a “crowd-pleaser.” This might be one reason why it won a place on Indiebound’s Autumn ‘09 Next List. I can’t imagine many readers will finish this book without grins on their faces.

Viola Chesterton is “marooned” for a year in South Bend, Indiana, at the Prefect Academy for Young Women, since her documentary-making parents are heading to Afghanistan to work on their latest film. Her mother thought it would be perfect for Viola to go to the same school she had attended for a year when she was a girl. In Viola’s opinion, South Bend might as well be as far away from Brooklyn, NY as Afghanistan. A true city girl, Viola isn’t sure how she’s going to survive in the Midwest without her best friend Andrew and the crazy non-stop whirlwind of her hometown. She’s pretty sure that the only way she will get through it is by focusing on her film-making. She doesn’t start off her grade nine year with an open mind, but somehow she finishes it with three great friends, her first real romance, and a lot more experience making movies that she had expected.

Trigiani’s style makes for breezy reading. I sped through this book the way I would read a Maeve Binchy novel (yes, I do read a little Maeve Binchy sometimes, usually in a single day on the couch with a box of chocolates nearby). The characters are just fleshed out enough, and the private school setting comes through well. The four roommates reminded me of the girls from the Traveling Pants series, each one a little bit different in appearance and interests, bringing out the best in each other and forming a perfectly cohesive and quirky friendship circle. There’s nothing tortured about Viola, which I liked a great deal. Her growth away from perfectionism and the need to always be in control, towards being open to new experiences, rings true. I am imagining that the subsequent books in this series could easily be written from the perspectives of the other friends. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the direction Trigiani is headed.

Just to note, this is an especially “clean” teen book, which is pretty refreshing when there’s just so much boy-lusting going on in so many YA titles out there. Not that I’m in the business of promoting clean reads, but for a change, I appreciated the emphasis on Viola’s inner growth, and it was a bit different to have the focus be on this character’s future professional and artistic goals rather than on her landing the perfect guy.

This is a just-right, happy read about good friends, surprising yourself, and taking change with an open mind. Not earth-shattering, but certainly satisfying.

Viola in Reel Life is published by Harper Teen.

James Dashner’s The Maze Runner is about as action-packed as a book can be. If you are at all inclined to start reading a book at bedtime and then just keep on reading because it is way too exciting to stop, then make sure you don’t have to set your alarm when you settle into bed with this book. It has “all-nighter” written all over it (also because it’s seriously freaky. You won’t be doing any sleeping after you meet Dashner’s “Grievers.” Trust me).

The Maze Runner is the first book in a trilogy, with book two, The Scorch Trials to be released in fall 2010. Maze Runner begins when a boy wakes up in a lift, with his memory almost entirely gone. All he knows is his name. This boy, Thomas, can’t remember anything of his former life beyond the vaguest traces that seem to hover at the very edge of his consciousness. His new home is a vast open area enclosed by high stone walls, called the Glade, where other boys like him have found themselves likewise stranded with no answers about their past lives or present situation. Every thirty days another boy is brought to the Glade in the lift, deposited there like all the others before him. Beyond the stone walls of the Glade is a maze. During the day, the stone walls open up for the boys to access the maze. At night, the walls seal up again which is just as well, because fearsome creatures called Grievers crawl through the maze at night, hunting anyone who remains inside. The Gladers believe that solving the maze is the only way they will be able to find their way home again so they assign some boys to become Maze Runners. These boys run the Maze everyday trying to map its shifting patterns. When Thomas arrives, everything starts to change. Escape and survival seem more distant than ever.

Here’s the snazzy book trailer:

Pretty scary stuff. The book conveys all of that menace and “you-can’t-see-what’s-out-there-in-the-darkness” tension. Over and over again as I was reading I was impressed at the tight pacing in the novel. Dashner sure knows how to end a chapter so perfectly that you simply have to turn the page to see what happens next. Closing the book seems impossible. The characters are well differentiated, with a dynamic that is a believably complex mix of camaraderie and ruthlessness. The Grievers have got to be the creepiest monsters I’ve come across in a really long time. Since you are as clueless about the true nature of the Glade and the Maze as the boys, it makes for a disorienting reading experience – thought not in a bad way. By keeping you in the dark, always guessing and wondering, Dashner jacks up the tension and helps you to sympathize all the more with the characters’ feelings of futility and powerlessness.

There is a website devoted to the book, where you can read the latest news, see what others are saying about it, and even play a game where you “map the maze” and avoid getting squished and stung by the Grievers. It’s fun/terrifying – a lot like the book itself. The Maze Runner is an ideal choice for someone who is a fan of The Hunger Games. Like that bestseller, this is a survival story, with intrigue and nonstop action. This is a downright frightening read, backed up with strong themes exploring justice, freedom, ingenuity and hope.

The Maze Runner is published by Delacorte Press.

This post is cross posted at Guys Lit Wire.

Good news Elflings! I am très heureuse to be a stop on Libby Schmais’s Tourapalooza in celebration of her first YA novel, The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein. If you know a teen who would love nothing more than a ticket to Paris this holiday season, then I’m thinking The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein would be a much more affordable and entirely pleasing option for said teen reader. Libby is also sharing her perfect day in Paris, as well as Lotus’s dream day in the French capital! As a lovely bonus, at the end of the post, you will find out how to enter to win an autographed copy of Libby’s book. Let’s get started with a bit about the book.

Lotus Lowenstein dreams of going to Paris and becoming an existentialist. Unfortunately, she is instead stuck in Park Slope Brooklyn, far from the world of croissants, cafés, and romance, with her particularly kooky family. She writes in her journal, her pillow book, about all things français and about her very complicated life. In spite of her daily efforts to celebrate French language and culture, Lotus feels like her Paris dream is very far away. She decides to create a French club in her high school, hoping that she might be able to organize a trip to the City of Light. The first meeting of the club brings out only three members: Lotus, her best friend Joni, and Sean, an adorable, smart wannabe existentialist. This launches Lotus’s first sort-of love affair, and she discovers that love, like any big dream, is a lot more complicated than she thought. Will there be heartbreak? Will Lotus discover the best poutine when the French club makes its first official trip to Montréal? Will she ever make it to Paris? You’ll have to read Lotus’s pillow book to find out.

Here’s the lovely trailer, which captures the spirit of the book perfectly (not always the case with trailers, I find):

Diary style writing is not easy to pull off. You’ve got to have a rock-solid sense of the character’s voice in order to make it work and to keep it engaging for the reader. Schmais definitely achieves this in her first YA novel. Lotus is often hilarious, and while she is precocious in her interests and observations about people and the world, her attitude and concerns are quite true to a typical teenager’s way of seeing things. There were many very funny moments in this book. For example:

I woke up late, ate two croissants, and had a café au lait. Read a few pages of Nausea, by Jean-Paul Sartre, and started to feel a little nauseated myself. I think it was because I totally related to the way JP felt about everything. Like how he looked at something and couldn’t even remember what it is or why it is. That’s how I feel. I mean, what’s the point? I’ll never have enough money to go to France. I’ll never fall in love. It’s just one endless day after the other.

I thought that Lotus was a really interesting girl, the kind of sassy character who stays with you and makes you wonder what she might be up to a few years down the road. She’s smart, irrepressible, and she has big dreams. I think a lot of teens will relate to her energy and vision.

I must address the cupcakes mentioned in passing in the trailer. An author who can come up with the idea for “HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE” cupcakes, is automatically working at a whole different level of funny, and deserves attention, I think. Come on. That is genius funny.  Makes me smile just thinking about it.

Libby has kindly stopped by to share how she and Lotus would each spend one perfect day in Paris. Welcome Libby! So, what would a perfect Parisian day look like for you, and for Lotus?

I think both Lotus and I would sleep late and then go to a café and drink enormous amounts of café au lait and eat pain au chocolat.

Then, I would probably spend the rest of the morning wandering around and doing a little shopping, perhaps around Rue Mouffetard in the cinquième, where there’s some really cute little shops and a street market. For lunch, I’d have a picnic of baguette and some delicious fromage on Île St Louis, in the shadow of Notre Dame. And later, afternoon tea at the very elegant Mariage Frères in the Marais district. Then I would walk off my tea and pastries on the Promenade Plantée, this cool elevated park near the Bastille.

For her perfect day, Lotus would definitely have to go to Les Deux Magots, where Sartre and Simone De Beauvoir spent their days writing and hanging out. After soaking up that hallowed atmosphere along with some delicious French food, and jotting down a few pensées of her own, she would make a pilgrimage to the Père Lachaise cemetery where Sartre and DeBeauvoir are buried side by side and perhaps shed a few tears. Then, to cheer herself up, she would go shopping at Les Galleries Lafayette department store and pick up some cool French outfits. She might also try to hit some couture salons like Chanel or Christian La Croix (because she believes she can save his bankrupt fashion house) and apply for a job as an apprentice. And if there was time, she’d probably also hit some vintage stores for some interesting accessories.

At night, I think both Lotus and I would each eat a delicious dinner in some tiny neighborhood restaurant and then go see a movie at a small art house in the Latin Quarter. Afterwards, I think we’d both take a leisurely walk on the Seine and watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle (which it does for five minutes at the beginning of every hour).

Doesn’t that sound divine? In my view, any day in Paris is bound to be close to perfect. Thanks for sharing your dreamy jour à Paris Libby! Like Lotus and Libby, I too am Paris-crazy. Here’s what I would do for one day in The City of Light (very food-centered, you will note):

Wake up. Head straight to Kayser, one of my favourite bakeries in Paris. Buy one of their gigantic financiers and wander up to the Jardin Luxembourg, the largest public park in Paris. I’d pull up a chair in front of the palace and feed the birds and stare at the glamorous Parisians walking by. Then I’d make my way to Notre Dame and head up to the top for the best view of the rooftops of Paris I’ve ever seen. After my climb, an ice cream would be essential. The best? Bertillon on the Ile St-Louis. I’d wander through the Marais, checking out the cute shops. I’d spend the afternoon at Le Centre Georges Pompidou, enjoying the high-tech architecture and the astounding collection of modern art. A quick nap in my hotel and I’d be back out in the city, catching a bite at one of my favourite bistros, Le Nemrod. Then I’d go to the Seine, so pretty at night, and stare at the buildings by moonlight from le pont Notre Dame. (*Sigh*) I want to be back in Paris.

Thanks for bringing back memories Libby!

Now for the tour contest. Libby will explain how to enter to win a snazzy prize:

Today’s French Word du Jour is sympa (which means “nice”). If you collect all the French words du jour on the Blog Tourapalooza, you can enter a contest to win fabulous prizes (a $25 Sephora gift card and a personally autographed Pillow Book!). Once you’ve visited all the blog tour stops and collected all the words, email the complete list of words to lotuslowenstein@gmail.com with the subject line “French Word du Jour Contest.” All e-mail entries must be received by midnight (EST) on December 21, 2009. The winner will be selected at random on December 22, 2009. Be sure to include your name, e-mail address, and daytime phone number with your entry (If you’re under age 13, give your parent’s contact info). The complete My-Life-Is-Merde-but-Have-a-Bonnes-Fêtes-Anyway Blog Tourapalooza schedule can be found at lotuslowenstein.com. Our next tour stop is Chick Lit Teens on December 17. See you on the road, mes amis!

The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein is published by Delacorte.

Ha! Take that sparkly vampires!

(I cannot believe I missed these buttons somehow).

So what team are you on?

Go grab your very own button at Galleysmith.

Tis the season of lists. Lists and lists of books recommended by book lovers. I like reading these lists. I find them reassuring  because they remind me that there will always be many brilliant books out there waiting to be read by yours truly. Here are some of the lists I’ve read over the past few weeks. Plenty of ideas of gift-giving:

Reading Rants’ 2009 Top 10 Titles

Mother Reader’s truly outstanding collection of ideas, “105 Ways to Give a Book.” This is the list of lists, in my opinion. Go Mother Reader!

The Times Christmas books for children

Kids’ Indie Next List for Winter 2009/2010

Horn Book’s Holiday High Notes

New York Times Notable Children’s Books 2009

Quill & Quire 15 Books that Mattered

Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Books of 2009

For many, MANY more lists, you must check out Largehearted Boy’s incredibly long, super-duper extensive “list of lists.”

What would make your top 10 list? I’m still finalizing mine, to be posted on New Year’s Eve.

If I could, I would be a kids’ poetry teacher. Does such a job exist? I wish it did. I adore teaching poetry. I adore poetry books written for children. It would be dreamy to spend my days introducing young’uns to beautiful verses and talented poets. There’s been a bit of a shift away from teaching kids to read and write poetry, I think, with so much emphasis being placed on developing literacy skills that are “practical” in the world. In my experience, children enjoy reading and writing poetry. It would be a shame to sacrifice that experience in the name of teaching more “job related” text forms.  Reading and writing poetry teaches you to think, obvserve, pause and reflect. Pretty important skills for anyone in the “real world” I think.

I will now step down off my elf-sized soapbox to tell you a bit about a truly gorgeous poetry book for children, one that has been sitting on my desk for way too long, waiting to be reviewed here at Shelf Elf. Red Sings from Treetops by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski, is a collection of poems inspired by the seasons. This book celebrates the natural world as it moves from season to season, focusing on the colours as they change from spring all the way through to winter. The colours are actually more like characters. They sing and hold hands and sip lemonade and keep secrets. Sidman’s verses are perfect, with rich and evocative language that bring the essence of each time of year vividly to your mind. Here’s a bit on Fall,

Fall smells
Purple:
old leaves, crushed berries,
squishy plums with worms in them.
Purple: the smell
of all things
mixed together.

But since it’s wintery now (finally a little snow in my neck of the woods), here is a snippet from the winter section:

And White?
White
whispers,
floats,
clumps,
traces its wet finger
on branches and stumps,
White dazzles day
and turns night
inside out.

A wrestle, a romp,
a feast:
Mmmmmm…
winter tastes White.

Pamela Zaragrenski’s mixed media illustrations offer so much to look at. They are whimsical – a whale floats in the fall night sky behind the moon, the little creatures wear tiny crowns in all of the pictures. The collage elements are detailed and surprising, and just flicking through the book from beginning to end moves you from the fresh blues and greens of springtime to the dull grey and brown and bright white of winter. (*Sigh*)

From an educator’s perspective, this is a book that is teeming with potential curriculum connections: Science, Art, Language, Media. It’s a rich text for teaching, without a doubt.

Note: this is the second collaboration between Sidman and Zagarenski. You must also buy and love This is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness, another book that makes me want to teach poetry and only poetry for ever and ever. I think these two ladies need to write more books. Give us more!

Other bloggers love this too (‘natch):

7 Imp
Wild Rose Reader
Laura Salas
A Patchwork of Books
Fuse #8

Red Sings from Treetops is published by Houghton Mifflin.

I am delighted to be hosting the lovely and talented Barrie Summy for an interview today on the Shelf. Barrie is the author of two of my favourite tween mysteries: i so don’t do mysteries and i so don’t do spooky. She is plenty of fun and she’s here to give us the scoop of all things mysterious and writerly. Welcome Barrie!

If you had to sell i so don’t do spooky in a sentence, what would be your teaser?

I’m sorry to report that I am not very good at this! Below is my best shot.

Sherry’s baaack and detecting with her ghost mother: can they keep Sherry’s stepmother safe?

Now, Shelf Elf, if you allow me more than one sentence, here’s what I’d say:
Sherry’s baaack! Can Sherry and her ghost mother keep Sherry’s stepmother safe? There’s robotics, ghost hunting and some serious toilet papering. It’s scary. It’s spooky. It’s fun. Oooooo. (p.s. Of course, Josh is back too!)

One of the biggest compliments (of many) I can pay to your books is that they are just plain fun to read. They’re feel-good stories, exciting and funny and real all at once. If you had to name five books that you would call “just plain fun” to read, which titles would you choose?

Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Laura Rennison; The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 ¾ by Sue Townsend; Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great by Judy Blume; Schooled by Gordon Korman; One for the Money by Janet Evanovich

I have this idea that writing a mystery must be really, really hard, trying to work out the details of the plot, keep the suspense up, introduce enough characters to keep readers guessing, drop a few clues here and there, and create a satisfying and believable finish. Is it as hard as all this? What would be your essential tips for someone about to start writing her first mystery for tweens?

It is hard. For me, anyway. Sometimes writing a mystery feels like one big juggling act and one big puzzle, all mixed together.

Here are my tips:
1. Read a lot of mysteries. A lot. Until it feels like mysteries are flowing through your veins. Because, then, you’ll automatically know what works and what doesn’t work, what’s cheating and what’s playing fair with the reader.
2. Read a few books on writing mysteries. I particularly like How to Write a Damn Good Mystery by James N. Frey, Don’t Murder Your Mystery by Chris Roerden and The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler (which is just a great book on writing, not on writing mysteries per se)
3. See below about the usefulness of a recipe box.

Will a poster board work to keep everything in order?

Yes. But not in my house. For i so don’t do mysteries, I divided a HUGE piece of poster board into perfect squares, used colored post-it notes for the scenes (different colors for different kinds of scenes (mystery, family, love life, etc.), and stuck it up on the office wall. It was organized. It was beautiful. It was a true piece of art.

Until Child #3 got it into his cute little curly, blond-haired head to play a joke on me. And rearrange ALL the post-it notes!

So, now I use a recipe box with colored note cards and dividers. And I do not leave it out in plain view!

Sherry is such a down-to-earth, roll-with-the-punches type of girl. She’s the sort of person I’d want on my team if I ever encountered anything remotely paranormal. What do you admire most about Sherry?

Her tenacity. It doesn’t all come easily to her. She has to work at it. There are times when she feels like throwing in the towel, but she refuses to give up. (well, for more than a few seconds, anyway!)

What’s it like spending time with a character over the course of a multi-book series? Has your understanding of Sherry changed much as you’ve written more about her? Does she continue to surprise you?

I love it!

Spending time with a character over the course of several books is like spending time with a good friend. If I have a tough day, I’ll write again in the evening when my house is calm and quiet, just so that I can hop into Sherry’s world and hand out with her for a while.

Sherry does still surprise me because she grows up a little each book. I get a kick out of the outlandish things she thinks and says. And I absolutely love how little character traits or incidents or friends pop up in one book and then again a couple of books later. For example, in i so don’t do mysteries, Sherry talks about how she and mother never missed watching the Academy Awards together. Well, in i so don’t do famous (the book I’m writing now), that little fact comes into play.

I can’t think of a single thing I don’t like about spending time with a character over several books!

What are your favourite mysteries:
a) written for tweens/teens
the Chloe and Levesque series by Norah McClintock
The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd
many Sammy Keyes mysteries, but especially Sammy Keyes and the Sisters of Mercy by Wendlin Van Draanen
Nancy Drew mysteries, especially The Hidden Staircase

b) written for adults
The Suspect by L.R. Wright
The Mirror Cracked From Side to Side by Agatha Christie
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
the Nero Wolfe series by Rex Stout
the Perry Mason series by Erle Stnley Gardner
the Kay Scarpetta series by Patricia Cornwell

In addition to her talent for all things spirit-related, Sherry loves fashion and being social and decorating her room just so. Besides writing mysteries, what else are you passionate about?

At the moment? Veiled chameleons! We have a male and a female. And NINETY THREE eggs in our incubators!

If you had to pick 4 things (ideas / books / objects / topics / people) that have most inspired your writing, what would you choose?

My parents: They instituted this crazy meat-and-potatoes-dessert-book rule where I could only read a dessert book after reading at least one meat-and-potatoes book. It forced me to read books I would’ve ignored and turned me into a super eclectic reader.

My high school English teacher, Mr. Peter Magee: He somehow got me to see that I was creative and really could write.

Nancy Drew mysteries: This is the series that started me thinking, way back when, that I wanted to write.

A fellow student from the University of Toronto (whose name I have long forgotten): We had a long conversation about how the glass is always half full and how you should never ever give up on your dreams. This conversation has stayed with me for years!

So do you believe in ghosts?

My first inclination is to say no. But, I’ve been wrong about so many things in life that I think I should just leave this open.

Give us a hint, what’ll Sherry be getting up to next?

In i so don’t do makeup, (pub date is May 2010) Sherry cracks a case involving makeup sabotage at her local Phoenix mall.

In i so don’t do famous (pub date is May 2011), Sherry busts up a teen burglary ring in Hollywood.

It’s been a treat having you here today Barrie! Thanks so much for visiting and keep writing us Sherry stories!

John Green on Twilight. It’s about time:

And, quite possibly the most genius YA marketing idea ever (by yours truly), inspired by Diana Peterfreund’s Rampant:

closer…

You only need to take one look into that sparkly pink creature’s giant eyes to see that it is a force for evil. Duh.

Obviously Diana Peterfreund is a writer who knows how to think outside the box (way, way outside the box). Don’t you think that is the perfect Christmas gift idea for a bookworm teen with an awesome sense of humour?

I think John Green needs to read Rampant. Now that we know his view on icy hot vampires, I wish to hear what he thinks about killer unicorns.

Confession: I cannot wait to see what this review looks like with snowflakes falling all over it.

Snowflakes aside, John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle’s collection of three interlinked stories, Let it Snow, needs no extra magic, no snazzy sparkly gimmick. This is the perfect book to read right now as the holidays speed ever closer and you might find yourself getting sucked into the spending frenzy and away from the true spirit of the season. Who isn’t up for a little holiday romance? And you’d have to be crazy to walk away from any book with those three authors listed all together on the cover. Let it Snow does not disappoint. It’s cheery, clever, just sweet enough and certainly good and snowy. This book is like a feel-good romantic comedy that is smart enough that it doesn’t make you feel guilty spending time on it. Not life-changing, but certainly plenty entertaining. Perfect for an afternoon of reading on the couch over your holiday.

The stories in the collection are loosely linked, and the sassy, funny tone runs through all three, tying them together in style and voice. The first (Johnson’s) is about a girl named Jubilee, who ends up stranded in a small town in the middle of nowhere after the train she was traveling on gets stuck in a snowstorm. She goes home with a fellow passenger, a charming stranger, and finds that this Christmas is full of unexpected twists. The second story (Green’s) zeros in on a trio of friends who try to make it through the same blizzard to their local Waffle House, drawn there by the promise of hash browns and cheerleaders (you have to read it to get it, but trust me, it’s funny). The last one (Myracle’s) follows a self-absorbed girl on a twisty road from heartbreak back to true love, with lots of Starbucks coffee and a teacup pig playing key roles in the drama.

This is light stuff, and as my friend at the bookstore said, “If you’re in the mood for a bunch of stories about hyper-clever teens falling in love with other hyper-clever teens then this is what you need.” The cleverness is almost too much in places (I mean, where were all those crazy smart and sarcastic teens when I was in high school?), but it makes for funny situations and engaging characters. It put me in the mood for waffles and a James Bond movie marathon and steamy mochas. And snow. Lots and lots of snow.

Other reviews:

Miss Erin

Abby the Librarian

Teenreads

Let it Snow is published by Speak, an imprint of Penguin Group.

I read lots of books that I love. These days, I don’t tend to waste my time with anything that doesn’t impress me or inspire me, or at the very least, entertain me. This said, not every book makes me happy. Barrie Summy’s books make me happy. Her Sherry Holmes Baldwin mysteries are feel-good stories. They’re clever and funny and utterly delightful (read my review of the first in the series, I So Don’t Do Mysteries here). This is why I am glad that Barrie is writing a whole bunch for us (right now, the third title, I So Don’t Do Makeup, is scheduled for release in May 2010). When I So Don’t Do Spooky showed up in my mailbox a few weeks back, I dropped all of the other books I had going (well, actually I just shoved them to the side for a while), and got straight into Sherry’s latest adventure.

Sherry’s first mystery experience was far from ordinary, because she solved the mystery with the help of her mom (who happens to be a ghost), and a wren (who happens to be her dead grandpa, in bird form). Good news for us that the kooky spirit of the first book is right back again in the second. Sherry’s mom is still enrolled in the Academy of Spirits (the main campus is located at a Dairy Queen in Phoenix), learning to watch out for and protect Sherry and the rest of the world. Sherry’s mom has also decided to enter the Annual Worldwide Academy Ghost Olympics, where she’ll compete against ghosts from academies all over the world, in the animal mind-control event. If her mom comes first in her division, she’ll win five minutes of “Real Time” – that’s five minutes of face-to-face time with anyone she chooses. Sherry is über-excited for her mom to win because there’s nothing she would love more than a few minutes to talk to her mother in person. But there is a lot of other stuff going on, which makes it hard for a girl to focus on one thing at a time. For example, Sherry’s stepmother Paula, aka “The Ruler,” is being stalked, and Sherry thinks it might be a student on a rival robotics team (since Paula is her school’s robotics coach). Then there’s Josh, her totally adorable boyfriend of two months, who just keeps getting cuter and cuter. In her second mystery, Sherry tries to juggle it all, even though she SO doesn’t do spooky.

Barrie Summy gets the voice pitch perfect once again, as Sherry is in so many ways a typical girl, with recognizable thoughts at the front of her mind such as, how to do better in school, how to make good choices when you’re keeping a few secrets, and how to look cute everyday. She’s sharp and relatable and once again, proves to be fast thinking and skilled in ghostly negotiations. The humour is just right and the pace never flags. It is a delicate thing to manage a plot that involves talking ghosts and animal spirits and still have it all come off as a narrative that readers will feel is rooted in a real girl’s life experiences, her ordinary and extraordinary struggles to make sense of everything that has been put on her plate. You’ll cheer for Sherry. You’ll laugh. You’ll appreciate the subtle poignancy Summy communicates in some of the scenes between Sherry and her mom, as they both wish things had turned out differently but know that they have to make the best of what they’ve got. Heartwarming, hilarious and quirky, this series is a sure pleaser for any mystery-loving tween.

I So Don’t Do Spooky is published by Delacorte Press.