Thank You, Lucky Stars

January 28, 2008
Adults hoping to share their own enthusiasm for Donofrio (Riding in Cars with Boys
) with younger readers may not get what they want from the author's first work for children. The story line is classic: narrator Ally starts fifth grade only to discover that her best (and only) friend, Betsy, has ditched her for the girl they both loved to loathe. Enter the kooky new girl who glues herself to Ally, a low-level class bully to bother them and two other outcasts to befriend them, and then throw in a school talent show (in which, despite the contemporary setting, everyone wants to sing Simon and Garfunkel or Beatles songs, or disco-dance. Unfortunately, Donofrio succeeds too well in building Ally's class-reject personality: her inability to read Betsy's social cues might invite some sympathy, but her manner and style (inserting “Thank you, Lucky Stars,” as an expression of gratitude, an uncontrollable penchant for a dance move she calls the “heebie-jeebie”) come across as immature, detracting from an otherwise personable narrative and jeopardizing the bond that readers may form with her. New girl Tina's gratingly over-the-top behavior is explained by the gradual, realistically rendered disclosure that her mother is bipolar and off her meds, while Ally turns out to have a sibling who died before Ally's birth, a circumstance that never fully dovetails with Ally's family dynamics. The ending, neat and feel-good, seems wishful and out of sync with the lifelike portrayals that precede it. Ages 9-12.

May 1, 2008
Gr 4-6-Ally's plans for fifth grade are falling apart. On the first day of school her best friend, Betsy, deserts her for popular, fabulous Mona. Now Ally won't be able to perform "Bridge over Troubled Water" with her in the talent show. Then along comes Tina, the new girl. Most kids think she's completely bizarre, as her clothes and hair are weird and she doesn't seem to care about the opinions of others. To her surprise, Ally gets along with Tina and finds a comfortable place with the socially awkward, nonjudgmental, smart kids at school. Predictably, in the end, she must choose between the cool kids and her newfound friends. This is an enjoyable read, and many girls will see themselves in the protagonist. However, many recent books feature quirky female characters, and this one struggles to stay with the pack. Ally makes references to Princess Leia, disco, and Simon and Garfunkel, which could make it challenging for readers to ascertain the story's time frame. Although her antics are entertaining, Tina's aloofness may distance readers from her struggles with her bipolar mother. The story is sweet, but the eccentric girls in Linda Urban's "A Crooked Kind of Perfect" (Harcourt) and Lauren Tarshis's "Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell out of a Tree" (Dial, both 2007) are better developed characters."Laura Lutz, Queens Borough Public Library, NY"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2008
Fifth grade starts off badly for Ally Miller. Her best friend, Betsy, with whom Ally had wanted to sing in the school talent show, suddenly ignores her. An odd new student, Tina, offers to be Allys friend and learn disco dancing in order to perform in the talent show with her. Then Betsy and her new friends ask Ally to be a go-go dancer for their band, and Ally deserts the more compatible Tinauntil she realizes that Betsy isnt offering the kind of friendship she needs. This familiar material has some appealing ingredients, including 1960s dances and a reprise of the last scene from the film Dirty Dancing. Along the way, Ally comes to appreciate her parents, as she watches Tina cope with her bipolar mother. Young readers with friendship issues of their own may find it easy to identify with shy Ally and rejoice at her final performance, while the bittersweet ending may come as a surprise.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)