Tween Pick: The Encyclopedia of Me

The Encyclopedia of Me
by Karen Rivers
Arthur A. Levine Books
2012
256 pages

Available September 1, 2012 (cover and publishing date from author's website)

Cute, clever, quirky, cool, sneaky, snarky and sarcastic, The Encyclopedia of Me is a great romp for girls with a sense of humor. Author Meg Cabot says, “What every girl will be reading this year!” (from the cover) and I couldn’t agree more.

Twelve year old (almost thirteen! Ta-da! Exclamation point!) Tink is on restriction at home and must find a way to deal with all her free time. Ta-da! She has an a-ha! moment and begins writing an encyclopedia of all things in her world.

She has entries for her bestie Freddie Blue and both her brothers; funny entries are Alaska, Nemo, Finding , Ballet and Barbie Dolls. Tink has a unique voice—that of a fetching and captivating “almost teen” diva. Her adventures and funny take on the language that Freddie Blue and she make up will have girls chortling. The girls shorten words and do backwards words—“malg” for example, is the opposite of “glam” or glamorous.

Tink is more fun than Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Dork Diaries put together. The snarky footnotes at the base of almost every page make for plenty of laughs.

Highly, highly recommended grades 6-up. No language, no sex.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this book.

Girl Pick: Sleuth or Dare: Partners in Crime

Sleuth or Dare: Partners in Crime
by Kim Harrington
Scholastic Press
Available May 2012 (date from inside arc)
192 pages

Cute and quirky, smart and appealing, fun and entertaining, Kim Harrington appears to have cornered the market on the mystery/sleuth novel for tweens.

Best friends Darcy and Norah--who couldn't be more NOT alike--have to stick together for a school assignment. They are to create a school project of a "fake" business. The BFFs decide on a "fake" detective agency that they christen "Partners in Crime." Darcy, resident computer nerd, will design the website and help with the technology end of the presentation; Norah will give the presentation to the class.

Imagine the girls' surprise when all their classmates hang on their every word and applaud their idea! The girls are even more flabbergasted when someone emails them with a "real" case for their agency. Darcy and Norah must track down who wrote them an email pleading with them to help find her missing sister.

Darcy uses her computer geek skills and Norah uses her sleuthing skills to figure out that cute and popular cheerleader Fiona is probably their client. They confront her quietly and she caves. She has found two birth certificates and two pictures of babies. She knows she must have been a twin and begs the "detectives" to find out what happened to her missing twin.

The girls have to tippy-toe around because Fiona warns that her parents are super-overprotective and almost creepily stealthy when talking to "strangers." When someone emails the girls to back off the Fiona case, it makes them mad and instead of scaring them, it puts them into high gear to find the missing twin before it's too late! Darcy backtracks the email and uses super-techy stuff to find who emailed them--but the IP address if encrypted! This tells the girls that they are dealing with someone who has super-secret access and technology--someone who is probably inside the government.

Goth girl, computer geek Darcy dresses only in black and purple and her parents encourage her wired behavior. She not only has a computer in her room, but a cell phone and all kinds of "spy" ware and toys to help the budding wannabe detective. Norah, on the other hand, is an astronomy nerd who finds comfort in star-gazing. Her parents are strict and don't permit cell phones and have the computer located in the den where they can monitor its usage. Readers will love both characters and likely find a friendship with each of them.

Spot-on dialog and geeky girl detective behavior will have readers clamoring for more, more, more! The return of the girl detective is here and now.

Highly, highly recommended grades 4-up.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

Girl Pick: Whatever After: Fairest of All

Whatever After: Fairest of All
by Sarah Mlynowski
Scholastic Press
2012
192 pages

Available May 2012 (date not yet on publisher's website)

Fresh, funny, and fairest of all, Whatever After: Fairest of All is book one in what appears to be a planned series. It is a great beginning full of fun and puns!

Siblings Abby and Jonah have just moved cross country to Smithville, a small town that pales in comparison to Abby's beloved Chicago. They live in a creepy old house where Jonah has discovered something quite strange in the basement. He wakes his sister up and together they venture downstairs in the middle of the night. Jonah shows Abby how he knocked on the mirror and it began to shimmer and hiss and suddenly they are sucked into the ornate mirror and find themselves in a huge forrest.

Everything is weirdly off and they have no way of getting back home. Suddenly the basement and Smithville are looking better and better! They run into a wrinkled grandmotherly old lady who is just rude. Abby can't believe a grandmother type can be rude--grandmothers are supposed to be nice. They follow her to a small cottage where she tries to trick the occupant into letting her in. Jonah is starving, and when the grandmother offers the girl inside the cottage an apple, Jonah begs for the apple. He thwarts the woman's plan of poisoning the girl, and now the kids have to set the fairy tale right again.

The old woman is really the witch/queen from the castle and the girl in the cottage is none other than Snow White. The queen has stolen the castle and banished Snow to the woods where she lives with the seven dwarfs. Except these dwarfs have names like
Alan and Stan and there's even female dwarfs Enid and Tara!

The kids realize that by not eating the poison apple, Snow cannot go to sleep and the prince can't come and fall in love with her and kiss her and live happily ever after. They feel responsible for Snow's predicament and decide to right the wrong. After that, they can figure out how to go home.

The dialog between Abby and Jonah is precious and lovely. Two siblings have never been better together. Abby is one of the funniest and snarkiest characters in a tween novel. She is freshly captivating and clever; her voice is spot on. Girls will want to be her or--in the least--be her BFF.

Fairest of All is a sure hit and should not be missed by any girl who loves a funny fairy tale with clever comedic pitch.

Highly, highly recommended grades 4-up. Easy to read and easy to love.

FTC Required disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

Girl Pick: Once Upon a Toad

Once Upon a Toad
by Heather Vogel Frederick
Simon & Schuster
2012
272 pages

Available April 10, 2012 (page count and publication date from publisher's website)

Clever, cute, quirky, and good clean fun, Once Upon a Toad delivers non-stop laughs and outrageous antics!

Twelve year old Catriona Skye Starr (Dad calls her Kit-Cat)is visiting her dad, step-mom, step-sister Olivia and little brother Geoffrey. Her astronaut mother was called at the last minute for a space mission. So while Mom is literally out of this world, Cat's Great Aunt Abyssinia is even more far out. She lives in her r.v. with a weird cat and travels around the country to all the national parks. Not only that, Abyssinia is one eccentric auntie--with a family secret that is about to get Cat in trouble.

Cat is not happy to be sharing a room with Olivia; Olivia is conceited and spoiled, a true "mean girl." Cat tries to be nice but living with Olivia is out of the question. It gets worse after a visit from Aunt Abyssinia. All of a sudden, each time Cat speaks, a toad drops from her throat! To make matters worse and pour salt into the wound, each time Olivia speaks, diamonds and flowers flow from her mouth.

Once their secret is discovered, everyone wants a piece of them--media and press are camped out on their lawn, an FBI guy shows up wanting to take Olivia to Area 51 for "study," kidnappers nab Geoffrey--holding him for ransom until they get their hands on the "Diamond Girl."

Cat can't wait to get away from Olivia but she needs to fix their problem: toads and diamonds are everywhere! And then, Cat remebers that Abyssinia visited right before the weird happenings. She has to find Aunt Abyssinia and figure out what she knows about the girls' problem. The girls will have to work together to out-manoeuver the FBI guy, outsmart the kidnappers, and outrun the police.

Recommended for girls who love a funny story with a little fairy tale magic grades 5-7. Older girls may also like quirky Cat.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

Girl Pick: Forever Four

Forever Four
by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
Grosset & Dunlap
2012
208 pages with illustrations
cover not yet available

Available January 19, 2012

Paulina has a great idea! She will enter her middle school's Curriculum Education Program competition with her project. The best project wins funding for the entire year, and her fabulous idea is to create and publish a magazine about girls for girls. The problem is that three other girls want to do a magazine, too. Principal Finley calls all four girls to her office and puts them on a team. She wants the four girls to work together to bring her one cohesive magazine.

The girls are each horrified! Miko is part of the P-Quits --Prom Queens in Training--and she's a fashionista and a brainiac, her hair, clothes and nails are always runway perfect and her grades superior to everyone else. Tally is the drama queen--both figuratively and literally--she stars in all the school's drama productions and over-exaggerates everything. Ivy is the new girl, fresh from New York City with a hot-shot magazine editor mother and uber-trendy East Village vintage clothes, and Paulina who juggles school, a younger brother obsessed with space aliens, cooking dinner, babysitting Kevin, and now her magazine.

How can four individuals--especially girls who never even speak to each other--Miko and Paulina, for example--come together and create a magazine that will excite middle school teens?

There are other teams in the competition out there trying to beat the girls. The girls' softball team is giving them stiff competition, and when they accuse the magazine girls of cheating, the 4girls come up with a unique way of defending themselves and showing the athletes what they're made of.

The girls highlight Pitch In's project and write a story about how girls' sports are often underfunded. Because of their unselfish acts, 4Girls wins the competition and shows the true meaning of sportsmanship.

Recommended grades 5-up. This is a great read for girls and shows that even if they are different, they can work together to produce something great.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.