Casting Her Ballot: Amelia Bedelia's First Vote by Herman Parish

"WHY ARE YOU RUNNING?" THE NURSE ASKED.

"WE'RE HAVING AN ELECTION!" SAID AMELIA BEDELIA.

"I SEE," SAID NURSE SIMS. "WHAT ARE YOU RUNNING FOR?"

"THE OFFICE," SAID AMELIA BEDELIA.

"OF COURSE," SAID NURSE SIMS. "WHICH ONE?"

"THAT ONE!" SAID AMELIA BEDELIA, POINTING TO THE SCHOOL OFFICE.

In one of little Amelia Bedelia's continuing skirmishes with the idioms of the English language, grade one is having their first class election in Herman Parish's latest, Amelia Bedelia's First Vote (Greenwillow, 2012).

Why do we calling trying to get elected "running for an office?" Like many first graders, six-year-old Amelia Bedelia knows running is something not to be done in school, and the office is where you get sent if you misbehave or feel really sick. But it's a whole new ballgame when it is time to have a classroom vote, and as usual, Amelia Bedelia brings her own outspoken viewpoint energetically to the challenge.

Since there seems to be some confusion about this "running" in school, Amelia Bedelia's suggestion to the principal, Mr. K., is that the kids vote on school rules themselves. He agrees, but a tie follows, resulting in a runoff vote (no running allowed) between daily ice cream in the cafeteria, backed by Teddy, and homework-free Wednesday, backed by Amelia Bedelia. Two contentious parties emerge, and when recess rolls around, Amelia Bedelia takes on the opposition in the race directly--a race outside around the building--which results in another collision and another trip to see Nurse Sims.

"THAT RUN-OFF WAS MORE LIKE A RUN-OVER," SAID AMELIA.

But just then, a news flash comes in. Dawn, out sick for the day, sends a request for her make-up work and a message that her vote is on the side of homework-free Wednesdays, and Amelia Bedelia's party squeaks by with a marginal win on the basis of the absentee vote.

"CONGRATULATIONS, AMELIA BEDELIA!" SAID MR. K. "DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO ADD?"

"I WILL... WHEN WE DO ARITHMETIC," SAID AMELIA BEDELIA.

Cheerily illustrated by Lynn Avril, this latest in the young Amelia Bedelia series provides an opportunity for young readers to begin learning the initially confusing lingo of elections--"running for office," "run-offs," and a "tie" (not the dreary ones Principal K. usually wears with his suits to work). Other "first-time" books in this spin-off series include Amelia Bedelia's First Day of School, Amelia Bedelia's First Field Trip, Amelia Bedelia's First Apple Pie, and Amelia Bedelia's First Valentine.

In the Beginning: The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict by Trenton Lee Stewart

What Mr. Harinton was doing certainly helped Nicholas--but it also simply felt right to Nicholas.

No sooner had he thought this than he realized what was anchoring his happiness. It was purpose. He knew what he wanted to do.

Nicholas had something to aim for now.

He might not know what he wanted to be when he grew up, but he knew with absolute certainty how he wanted to be.

At the very least, he knew where to begin.

With three very sucessful series books behind him, author Trenton Lee Stewart takes us back to the beginning of the The Mysterious Benedict Society, the backstory behind benefactor Nicholas Benedict himself, in his recent prequel, The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict (The Mysterious Benedict Society) (Little, Brown, 2012).

The orphaned Nicholas Benedict has been dismissed from the waif's home where he has lived because his narcolepsy and screaming nightmares have caused untenable "administrative problems." In a Jane Eyre-style arrival amid a gloomy rain, Nicholas is driven from the station by the uncommunicative Mr. Collum, who seems displeased with the problems the nine-year-old Nicholas brings and preternaturally absorbed with the matter of an ancient, hand-written ledger from which his new charge seems an annoying distraction. Upon arrival at the dark and gloomy Rothchild's End, Nicholas is quickly shown the a dark windowless and crowded storeroom where his sole comfort is a cot and blanket, where Mr. Collum observes that Nicholas will be locked up nightly so that his sleepwalking and nightmares will not cause problems for the other student inmates.

As Mr. Collum relocks the door and escorts Nicholas to the bathroom before bedtime, however, Nicholas manages to convince the headmaster that he needs to use the key to get his forgotten toothbrush, and making use of the melted wax in the guttering hallway candle's sconce, he quickly makes a wax impression of Mr. Collum's key, which he happily speculates is a skeleton key that will unlock many doors in 'Child's End manor.

Nicholas is indeed a lad of many talents besides persuasion. He is a natural speed reader with a photographic memory and a lightning-quick mind, and after fashioning a duplicate key in metals crafting class, Nicholas decides that he will spend part of every night in the school's well-stocked library. Observing the headmaster serriptitonsly knocking on wooden panels in various rooms, Nicholas intuits that he is searching for some sort of hidden treasure and determines to give some of his midnight explorations over to deciphering the meaning of that old ledger-journal which Mr. Collum keeps locked in his office.

Indeed, there is an intriguing mystery there, the whereabouts of the inheritance of the mistress of the manor, Mrs. Rothchild. Nicholas Benedict believes that if he can find and claim what the journal calls her "treasure," it will be his escape from interminable years in institutions such as this one is turning out to be.

And while not quite the Dickensian orphanage where Oliver Twist suffered, "Child's End is aptly named for a boy like Nicholas. Befriended by only one boy, John Cole, Nicholas is shunned by the others because of his far-ranging vocabulary and his peculiar narcoleptic attacks, and little Nick also is selected for tormenting as the perennial victim of the school bullies, the "Spiders," seemingly under the noses of short-sighted and overburdened staff, including only an extremely myopic nurse, an elderly and arthritic housekeeper a equally superannuated cook, a reclusive caretaker/gardener, and a part-time schoolmaster.

Nicholas pins his hopes on discovering that treasure, and deduces from the accounts in the ledger than the Rothschilds had constructed an elaborate personal astronomiocal observatory on a hill in the area, and equipped with a lantern and alarm clock he has rebuilt from discards in the cellar and storeroom, Nicholas moves his midnight mission outdoors and eventually locates the abandoned observatory, where he is certain the treasure must be hidden. As time goes by, he confides in John and later in Violet,the deaf daughter of the local farmer whom the two meet in their nocturnal ramblings. Nicholas enlists both as confederates in the quest and the three hang their hopes on that treasure, a means to art school for Violet and an escape from orphanage life for John and Nicholas.

But as Nicholas Benedict's research and investigations continue, his simple theory of Mrs. Rothchild's vanished fortune is confounded, and the actual truth that he ultimately discovers changes everything for Nicholas forever.

Fans of the Mysterious Benedict Society's quirky young heroes and heroines will be fascinated by that peculiar Society's founder's childhood story and how the Society's own mission came to be. Stewart's narrative is as darkly atmospheric and labyrinthine as their midnight rambles, reminiscent as it is not only to Harry Potter's dark nighttime forays at Hogworts but also to the many Gothic mysteries of the late John Bellairs and the resourceful orphan family in Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events> Hard-core readers of the series will find the young Nicholas Benedict a delightfully off-beat character, from whom the redoubtable Benedict Society springs.

Previous books in this series include The Mysterious Benedict Society, The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey, The Mysterious Benedict Society: Mr. Benedict's Book of Perplexing Puzzles, Elusive Enigmas, and Curious Conundrums,
and The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma.

Whistle Pig School: Groundhog Weather School by JoanHolub

HAPPY GROUNDHOG'S DAY!

I DO NOT SEE MY SHADOW. THAT MEANS SPRING IS HERE!

Rabbit takes the word of his friendly neighborhood groundhog seriously. "YAHOO!" he rejoices, as he joyously dons his tropical shirt and shades and clambers up out of his burrow to greet the spring.

SIGH!

Rabbit is greeted by a snowy scene and freezing weather. "I guess it's really hard to predict the weather," he grumbles sadly, and dashes off a letter to Weather Groundhog, suggesting he train some apprentices to help him gather more data for next year. "Hmmmm," says Professor Groundhog, who sees an opportunity to advance his profession here. Soon he's fashioned a catchy ad to attract students for his new venture:

HAVE YOU GOT WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A WEATHER FORECASTER?

TAKE THIS QUIZ AND CHECK ALL THAT APPLY!

Requirements are stringent. Applicants must be mammals, rodents, furry, burrow-dwelling, and hibernation prone. More than a few good woodchucks make the cut, including one interloper, Skunk, who meets all the conditions except the last one. He tries bedding down by December, but January finds him wide-awake and hungry. Still, he sneaks into the matriculating class ("I'm an exchange student," he explains.)

With fresh shiny faces in line, Professor Groundhog's Weather School welcomes its freshman class for introductory lectures in GeHOGraphy, and the Prof takes them through the history of Groundhog's Day, the various names for their species (woodchuck, whistle pig) their habitat (Northeastern and central North America) and some famous icons of Hognostication--Punxatawney Phil of Pennsylvania, Pierre C. Shadeaux of Louisiana (actually a nutria, but hey, he's a Cajun sensation!) Buckeye Chuck of Ohio, Sir Walter Wally of Raleigh, North Carolina, General Beauregard Lee Lilburn of Georgia, and Staten Island Chuck of, of course, New York. "Is this going to be on the test?" whines one typical student.

But when the day for the Big Test rolls around, Professor Groundhog's class proves themselves, er, well-grounded in groundhog lore, and he's all ready to roll out his group prediction by the upcoming February 2 deadline. Will groupthink trump the Professor's call this year, or will Rabbit be disappointed yet again when he peeps out of his hole?

Joan Holub's brand-new Groundhog Weather School (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2011) provides a nifty way to take youngsters through a good deal of weather lore and information, all within the boundaries of a tongue-in-cheek tale that can brighten this year's Groundhog Day whether it's sunny or not. Prolific children's author Holub (The 100th Day of School (Hello Reader!, Level 2) combines her narrative skills with Kristin Sorra's arresting mixed-media art to make a book that kids will want to pour over for all the delicious tidbits of groundhog humor in both text and illustrations, joining Gail Gibbons' standard, Groundhog Day! and recent "hognosticators" such as Ten Grouchy Groundhogs, Go To Sleep, Groundhog! Gretchen Groundhog, It's Your Day! Punxsutawney Phyllis and Substitute Groundhog in the lineup of storytime tales for this just-for-fun holiday.

Oh, and Rabbit, just in case, pack earmuffs AND your sunglasses for that overnight on February 1. It IS hard to predict the weather!

Where, Oh, Where? Disappearing Desmond by Anna Alter

DESMOND LIKED TO DISAPPEAR.

AT SCHOOL DESMOND HID DURING LIBRARY HOUR, AT LUNCHTIME, AND AT RECESS.

Camo-clad Desmond appears on the title page of Anna Alter's Disappearing Desmond (Alfred A. Knopf, 2010) disappearing into the foliage behind him, and as the story points out, his whole family has a way of blending into the wallpaper as well.

At school Desmond is both there and not there. In library, he peers through the bookshelves at everyone and on the playground he quickly climbs into the refuge of the tree house tower. He shows up on an aquarium field trip in wet suit and snorkel inside the tank with the fishes and sea turtle. He even dons an Elizabethan mustache and hides in plain sight in front of the Shakespeare poster, making himself undetectable to the teacher's casual glance. Something must be done!

And then GLORIA happens. The class gets a new girl who loves to be the center of attention. She wears bright colors and likes to put herself center stage in every activity. And wonder of wonders, Gloria seems to have a thing for noticing the retiring Desmond no matter how well concealed he thinks he is. Then, one day during free-reading time, she turns the sunshine of her attention right on him.

"HI, DESMOND," SHE SAID. "YOU ARE READING MY FAVORITE BOOK. MAY I JOIN YOU?"

And in that magical way that a popular friend can transform the class shrinking violet into a star, Desmond disappears no more. He even shows up at school wearing a loud plain sweater and everyone sees him for the first time. Desmond wonders why he ever shrank from view and sets out to bring all the other "disappearing" kids into the game as well.

With intriguing patterned backgrounds among which our hero and his shy cohorts find refuge, Alter's nicely illustrated Disappearing Desmond provides a bit of visual fun spotting the elusive Desmond and his bashful mates, while providing an easy-going bit of bibliotherapy for the group gifted with the undiscovered riches of the shy classmate. As School Library Journal remarks, "a reassuring tale of friendship that gives voice to young wallflowers and their secret desire to connect with others."

Le Grand Field Trip: Madeline at the White House by John Bemelmans Marciano

AT AN OLD HOUSE IN WASHINGTON, D. C.

LIVED AS LONELY A GIRL AS THERE COULD BE.

HER NAME WAS MISS PENELOPE RANDALL,

BUT EVERYOLNE ALWAYS CALLED HER CANDLE.

Nicknamed Candle for her flame like red cowlick, this President's daughter finds life at the White House quite dreary: Her dad the President is too harried even to keep his appointments to play with her, and at the White House school she is literally in a class by herself. And then her mom schedules a junket over Easter. But luckily, The First Lady has French connections, one fortunately with someone at an old house in Paris that is covered with vines. And, Voila!--the students of a famous, fashionable French girls' school flies in for a fortuitous field trip just in time to save Candle from a lonely holiday.

THEIR PLANE GETS IN AT HALF PAST NINE.
THE SMALLEST ONE IS MADELINE.

With the famous French redhead and America's carrot top First Daughter, the fun never stops. Even Miss Clavell cannot keep the twelve little girls in two straight lines at the big White House Egg Roll on the south lawn, and Candle, Madeline, and the rest fill their tummies on the treats at the fete. Then it's bedtime for the girls. But when Miss Clavell turns out the light, the girls are up and off on their finest adventure. Conjuring up her magician friend, Madeline persuades the dutiful Candle to sneak out for a magic carpet ride around Washington, D.C., hitting all the sights from the sky--the Capitol, the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials, and the Washington Monument, all by the light of the starry heavens.

Then with many boo-hoo-hoos from the little girls, the new friends depart for their plane back to Paris with many hugs and promises, as the ever-firm Miss Clavell reminds them that

TO SAY GOODBYE IS ALWAYS SAD.
BUT COMING HOME IS NEVER BAD.

For grownups, who can't remember a time when the Madeline books were not there, seeing those twelve little girls, togged in their matching yellow coats and beribboned hats peering through the iron fence at the White House and its fountain is a happy sight. John Bemelmans Marciano's illustrations for his latest, Madeline at the White House (Viking, 2011) closely approximate those of his grandfather Ludwig Bemelmans, and this story, although perhaps lacking la tension of such cliff-hangers as Madeline's Rescue, provides an agreeable tour of Washington, D.C., a colorful Easter event for holiday reading, and introduces an interesting American character to the Madeline series.

Marciano's previous addition to this venerable picture book series is Madeline and the Cats of Rome.

Makeover! The Reinvention of Moxie Roosevelt by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel

My personality log was beginning to overwhelm me.

In the almost four weeks since I'd started keeping it, there was way too much information piling up. I had actually enjoyed keeping the lists in the beginning, but now just reading over them made me feel queasy. I'd said so many things to so many different people. I knew that I was only doing a little harmless personality window-shopping, but on paper my experiment looked...not so good. Kind of like the journal entries of a pathological liar.

Thirteen.

It's the age when almost everyone decides that their personality closet needs a good cleaning out and sprucing up. Moxie Roosevelt Kipper is no exception. Stuck with an inexplicable name (who else is named after an obscure 1920s soft drink, two (2!) dead presidents, and a pickled fish?), Moxie feels she has failed to live up to her improbable name, flying under the radar, hiding out with the music nerds in her tiny hometown of Pine Point, the kind of girl that no one seems to remember meeting.

But now Moxie is off, on a piano scholarship no less, to the prestigious Eaton Academy for Girls, and it's her chance to reinvent herself. But what kind of Moxie is she going to be? Certainly not that faceless music nerd, toiling over Bach's Goldbert Variations for fun. Mysterious Earth Goddess? Assertive Revolutionary Activist? Detached, Unique, Coolly Knowing Individual? Hale and Hearty Sports Enthusiast?

Moxie hastily scribbles her list of possible personalities on the way to Eaton Academy, giving herself little time to research her cover identities, and none of the personalities seems to match that of her new roommate, Spinky Spangler--she of the crewcut green hair, piercings, dog collar and Chinese calligraphy tattoos. Somehow Moxie successfully fakes her way through a trial run of her DUCKI (Detached, Unique, Coolly Knowing Individual) and hits it off with Spinky instantly. Buoyed by her success and inspired by her seeming intuitive sense of her new classmates' passions, she goes on to pretend to be a red-hot Yankees fan (HHSE) with Guadalupe, and nature-loving save-the-sea-cow environmentalist (ARA) with Reagan, and a spiritual Wiccan (MEG) with her hallmate, the serene Buddhist Haven. In the first week Moxie goes on to spin off some real tall tales--telling her student counselor she has had her sixth toes and fingers removed surgically, and telling her Educational Enrichment teacher Mrs. Hay that she can't perform stand up comedy in the talent show because she is Amish.

But keeping up the right front with each person becomes almost too much for Moxie. And Moxie is stymied with the strangely hostile Kate Southington, who seems to hate every one of her potential personas and seems to believe that Moxie knows some deep, dark secret that she plans to use to turn the whole class against her. Then, just as the pressure from math class, her upcoming piano performance of Goldberg Variation No. 28 and a standup comedy routine in the fall talent show (which Mrs. Hay insists is crucial to pass her Educational Enrichment class) becomes almost too much for her, Moxie discovers that her notebook journaling her fictitious personas with each of her new friends is missing, She suspects that the spiteful Kate has snitched it and plans to reveal her fakery to all her new friends. Moxie is sure that she will soon be fleeing back to Pine Point with all of her potential personalities in pieces.

Elizabeth Cody Kimmel, whose earlier Spin The Bottle displayed her skill in portraying girl characters on the cusp of teendom, has in her newest, The Reinvention of Moxie Roosevelt (Dial Books, 2010) a character every 'tweener girl will recognize. With the insight of Mrs. (Hobbit) Hay, the confidence in her of her piano master, Mr. Tate, and the solid acceptance of her ever-empathetic roommate Spinky, Moxie, with her search to find her own moxie in this world, is a lovable, funny, and completely sympathetic character who at last comes to find within herself the person she is meant to be.

The Reinvention of Moxie Roosevelt was over. And the real Moxie Roosevelt had finally stood up.

Back to School! Pinkalicious: School Rules by Victoria Kann

RULES ARE SOMETHING I DO NOT LIKE ABOUT SCHOOL, AND I REALLY DO NOT LOVE THE RULE ABOUT NO UNICORNS.

Pinkalicious likes her classmates, and she likes her teacher Mr. Pushkin. But she misses Goldilicious, her very own unicorn. Going to school without Goldie is almost too much for her. Mr. Pushkin is sympathetic, and finally gives Goldie a stay of removal:

"OKAY, PINKALICIOUS," SAID MR. PUSHKIN. YOUR UNICORN MAY STAY, JUST THIS ONCE." I STOPPED CRYING.

"BUT IF YOUR UNICORN STAYS, YOU MUST TEACH HER THE RULES. DO YOU THINK YOU CAN DO THIS?"

Pinkalicious agrees to the Mr. Pushkin's terms, and as the school day wends its way toward dismissal time, she proves that she and her best friend Goldie have mastered the school rules--no talking during silent reading time, lining up without pushing or cutting, and playing nicely at recess with the other students.

By the time Pinkalicious retrieves her backpack from her hook, she and Goldie have had a good day, and with her unicorn's example in mind, Pinkalicious has even changed her mind about the rules.

"SCHOOL RULES!"

Victoria Kann's latest, her new entry into the notable I-Can-Read series, Pinkalicious: School Rules! (I Can Read Book 1) (Harper, 2010) is sure to find a warm pinktastic welcome from the many fans of this best-selling series, tailored as it is the early beginning reader and the beginning of the school year with its many rules and reasons.

Mr. Cool: Mudshark by Gary Paulsen

This is the Principal. Would the custodian report to the faculty restroom with a large stick, safety goggles, and a respirator mask? And would whoever took the erasers from room two of three please return them and refrain from removing erasers in the future? And also, while it is loose, and in spite of what I said in the last announcement, the gerbil is not, per se, a wild animal and will not, repeat, will not attack. So please refrain from screaming or otherwise panicking should you see said gerbil.

Will Mud... Lyle Williams please report to the principal's office? Immediately.

When Lyle (a.k.a. Mudshark), so-called because of his incredibly cool agility and deadly skills at the local version of rugby, is summoned to the principal's office, the harried Mr. Wagner recruits his noted skills of observation and unerring recall at unraveling the ongoing mystery of the disappearing erasers, which is spreading to every classroom in the school. That issue would seem one of Mr. Wagner's lesser worries--there's a serious population explosion in the school's cycle-of-life crayfish experiment, and a renegade hamster apparently being pursued through the HVAC ducts 24/7 by AWOL teacher Mr. Patterson. And about what is going on in that faculty bathroom--don't even ask!

Mudshark is one of those inevitably cool kids, doted upon by the faculty and reverenced by his peers for his innate coolness, but his reputation is no accident. With his skills of observation honed by multitasking--rescuing his toddler triplet sisters from untoward encounters with electric outlets and tasty-looking lumps in the cat litter while seemingly reading everything he encounters and remembering everything he observes, Mudshark is that rare 'tweener boy--one who thinks.

Yes, he owed his speed and attention to detail to Kara, Sara, and Tara.

But the way he moved wasn't why Mudshark was cool.

Mudshark knew cool wasn't in how you moved or a name or clothes or whether or not you were asked to play on anyone's team.

It was all in the way thoughts ran through your mind, the way you managed the flow of electrical changes jumping from one brain cell to another to form ideas.

That's what makes somebody who they are. And that's why Mudshark was so cool.

He thought.

And Mudshark knows that he needs to engage all his thinking processes to figure out just what is going on at his school. For one thing, there's a talking parrot, the newest pet of librarian Mrs. Underdorf, who seems to be supplanting Mudshark in his role as school solver of mysteries. That parrot seems to know everything despite the fact that he is supposedly always locked in a cage in the library. Mud knows that he must solve the missing eraser mystery before the parrot does to keep his cool status at school. And he knows that the place to start has to be in close observation of the school's overworked custodian, a faceless mop-wielding nonentity to the rest of the school, but whom Mudshark discovers is recovering PTSD viction of Vietnam whose basement mop room is a museum of fine art and Baroque music and who reads everything from Plato to Mark Twain. He also fancies himself "The Custodian of Joyful Things," including, as Lyle learns, one errant gerbil and student creations on the school's blackboards, the preservation of which has become an obsession which has rendered him incapable of erasing the boards at day's end.

Mudshark quickly intuits the root of Mr. Wagner's eraser mystery, but his solution requires some delicacy, which ultimately involves Betty Crimper's Foul Odor Elixir cooked up in science lab, Mrs. Downside's sometimes evil cat, his buddy Kyle's amazing disappearing tricks, and avoidance training for the big-mouthed parrot. Mudshark and his curious crew carry off the plot, even bringing Mr. Patterson home from his obsessive diversion through the duct work in the process. All is almost all well.

This is the principal. I cannot stress strongly enough that, for your own safety and per the restrictions of Homeland Security, to whom, by the way, we'd like to offer a warm welcome, you please refrain from going anywhere near the faculty restroom. Oh, and great news about Mr. Patterson. While he hasn't caught the gerbil, his application for another summer of teaching wilderness camp has been approved. Way to go, Mr. Paterson!

Although Paulsen exercises literary license in keeping the veil intact over the mystery in the faculty bathroom, he manages to keep middle readers laughing all the say through this deft and comic school story. A short (83-page) and snappy outing, along the lines of his hit comedy Lawn Boy, in Mudshark (Random House, 2009) Paulsen proves that he's still the king of boy protagonist comedy in this quirky page-turner in which anyone who's ever eaten the Prune Liver Surprise in a school lunchroom will feel right at home.

The Eye of the Beholder: Fancy Nancy: Spectacular Spectacles by Jane O'Connor

BREE CAN'T COME OVER AFTER SCHOOL TODAY. SHE'S GOING TO THE EYE DOCTOR.

AT SCHOOL HER EYES HURT A LOT.

IT'S VERY DISTRESSING (THAT'S LIKE UPSETTING, ONLY FANCIER).

That night Nancy gets a special message from Bree promising a surprise the next morning when they meet to walk to school. Nancy has an inkling what the big reveal is going to be, but when she sees Bree's lavender glasses with sparkles, she's agog:

OOH LA LA! YOU LOOK SPECTACULAR!

And at school Bree is the center of all eyes. No one else has ever seen lavender (that's fancy for light purple) glasses. Bree regales the class with her show-and-tell about what happens during an eye exam. And when morning lessons are done, Bree pulls out a spectacularly glittery silver case to stash her specks while they go out for recess. Nancy is glad that her friend's eyes don't burn from eyestrain and that she can read "tiny stuff now," and she is proud when Ms. Glass tells Bree that her lavender "spectacles" are most "becoming" (two fancy words even Nancy had never heard before).

But the crisis for Fancy Nancy comes when Bree whips out a special hankie--incredibly fancy thin silk--and pink with purple polka dots--to clean her new glasses. Our girl is suddenly stricken with a rare emotion for her---envy. Has Nancy been out-fancied by Bree's eyewear accessories?

At home Nancy broods over the situation and tries to convince herself and then her parents that she, too, needs glasses, to keep up with Bree's spectacular spectacles. It's time for a heart-to-heart with Mom.

"I WISH I HAD A HANKIE LIKE THAT. I WISH I HAD A SILVER CASE.

MOST OF ALL I WISH I HAD LAVENDER GLASSES WITH GLITTER! IT'S NOT FAIR!" NANCY CONFESSES.

MOM DOESN'T GET MAD. "YOUR EYES ARE FINE," SHE SAYS. "YOU ARE A VERY LUCKY GIRL."

Then the creative Nancy has a fancy brainstorm. From her stash of beads, butterflies, bows, glitter, and feathers, together Mom and Nancy retrofit a pair of her old sunglasses into spectacular spectacles she can show off the next time she sees Bree:

"MY GLASSES ARE JUST PRETEND. BUT DON'T I LOOK FANCY?"

In this newest in her I-Can-Read series for Harper, Jane O'Connor's Fancy Nancy: Spectacular Spectacles (I Can Read Book 1) provides an easy-to-read book for beginners with plenty of vocabulary boosts in the form of "Nancy's Fancy Words," summarized in the glossary. O'Connor's best-selling full-dress picture and beginning readers have a new model in their lineup, and this one shows Nancy dealing with what is for her the new emotion of envy, learning how to cope with letting her friend have her moment in the fashion spotlight as well. A good read for Nancy's young fans and a painless introduction to the sometimes painful experience of being the first in the class to wear glasses, this one is another winner for O'Connor and Company.

Geez, Louise: Louise the Big Cheese: Divine Diva by Elise Primavera

Louise liked the limelight; she liked a lot of fuss and more than anything else in the world she wanted to be the big cheese.

"DREAM BIG! That's my motto!" she said.

And then her chance comes. Mrs. Little announces tryouts for the title role in the class play, Cinderella. As princesses go, Cinderella is the big cheese,and Louise knows that this casting call can be the beginning of her career on stage and screen. At dinner she announces that she is probably going to leaving soon for a life as a Broadway star. Her parents say they'll be sad to lose her to the stage, but big sister Penelope says she'll be so glad to see her move out that she will give Louise her new tube of Divine Diva lipstick when she goes.

There's just one problem. Her best friend Fern is determined to try out for the part. Fern is sure she's got the right stuff:

"I would like to be Cinderella in the school play!" says Fern emphatically.

"I want to be Cinderella," said Louise.

"But I take dancing lessons!" argued Fern.

"I take dancing lessons!" said Fern.

"You do NOT!" said Fern.

"I do TOO!!" Louise said.

"Since WHEN?"

"Since NOW!"

But fate is fickle, and somehow Louise finds herself cast as a mouse, while Fern is indeed cast as the Big Cheese Cinderella. Louise is incensed and refuses to speak to Fern as they rehearse. Reluctantly, she decides to make the best of her role, and on the night of the performance, sister Penelope allows her to wear some Divine Diva lipstick for luck.

And it seems to be working:

The school play went along well. None of the scenery fell down like it kept doing in rehearsal. All the music came right on cue, and Louise's tail managed to stay on.

Louise didn't know if it was the Divine Diva lipstick, but she sang and danced better than she ever had before. Soon it was the grand finale.

Fern raised her arm to deliver her last lines and looked more like a big star than Louise ever could have imagined.

"Fairy Godmother," Fern announced, "um, um...." Fern looked terrified!

Louise, standing just behind Fern, realizes that the star of the show has forgotten her last line, and Louise realizes that she's the only one who can help her ex-friend out! What would a true diva do?

The show must go on, of course, and in Elise Primavera's newest, Louise the Big Cheese: Divine Diva, Louise proves to be a real trouper and a good friend after all. Diane Goode, Caldecott Honor winning artist (for When I Was Young in the Mountains (Reading Rainbow Books)) passes the audition here as well with illustrations which perfectly capture the aspirations of a Divine Diva wannabe. Fans of Fancy Nancy and Olivia will find Louise the Big Cheese: Divine Diva, sure to please.

Hogging the Spotlight: Olivia Acts Out by Jodie Shepherd

"I have some exciting news," announced Olivia's teacher, Mrs. Hoggenmuller.

"Our class play this year will be "The Fairy Queen!"

"And I will play the Fairy Queen," Olivia whispered to her friend Julian.

Olivia, that perennially perky porker, cannot believe her ears when Mrs. Hoggenmuller continues with the announcement that Francine--FRANCINE!--will play the Fairy Queen. To add insult to injury, Olivia waits for her role until there are only two left. Julian is happy with his non-speaking role as Tree, but Olivia is devastated with her part--COW NUMBER TWO. Not even Cow Number One! And the part has only one line--MOO. What can a born actress do with a line like that?

At home her dad listens sympathetically and then offers one bit of stage advice:

"Just remember: it's not what you say; it's how you say it."

Olivia is not reassured. After all, how many ways are there to say MOO? She tries out a few variations: full voice: MOO! soft and low: moo. plaintive: m-o-0-0--0-0-0! No good. This line just doesn't allow for much range. Olivia pins her hopes on Francine's failure. Francine does get rattled when Julian, allergic to his tree costume, keeps sneezing in the middle of her big lines. Maybe, just maybe, Olivia can be the understudy who goes on to save the show. "Don't worry," she confides to Mrs. Hoggenmuller. "I know every line and gesture."

But that doesn't happen. Francine forges on through rehearsal after rehearsal, and Olivia despairs of stardom until a chance remark by Julian gives her a great idea.

"What have cows EVER done that's interesting?" Olivia moans.

"Well," said Julian, "there was that one cow that jumped over the moon."

Suddenly Olivia's got it. If she doesn't have any great lines, there's always stage craft, and suddenly she has an idea for an over-the-moon bit of stage business that will steal the show right out from under Francine's queenly trotters!

Jodie Shepherd's adaptation of the screenplay, Olivia Acts Out, (Simon and Schuster, 2009)(based on the Nickelodeon production featuring Ian Falconer's character) gives the effervescent Olivia her spot in the limelight, in an ending which will delight young readers. Equipping herself a la Peter Pan, Olivia accompanies her one MOOO! with a show-stopping leap, landing just in time to take a bow, center stage, with Francine AND get the last line.

THE END!

Olivia is nothing if not a born diva, and kids will enjoy her attempts to steal the show, even if they themselves, like Julian, would prefer an anonymous tree costume between them and the footlights. And don't forget Falconer's 2008 sweet and saucy Olivia Helps with Christmas (Olivia Series). These great stories, along with the charming Olivia in Classic Red Dress Doll, make a great stocking stuffer this year.