Out to Lunch

May 1, 2002
Gr 2-4-The premise is fantastical-a third-grade girl wishes she were someone else, a wind blows up, and she becomes someone or something else. In just 70-odd pages, Katie solves big problems at school, just by her "switcheroos." In Anyone but Me, her tenure as a hamster gives her insight into the class bully (who turns out to be afraid of hamsters), and he is transformed into a nice boy who loves to tell jokes and riddles. In Out to Lunch, she turns into the nasty cafeteria woman, causes a food fight, and comes up with a way to change the quality of the food. This series could be a feminine contender to rival Dav Pilkey's "Captain Underpants" series (Scholastic), but the writing is not of the same caliber and the characters are less well drawn. It's also more purposeful and less fun.-Kay Bowes, Concord Pike Library, Wilmington, DE

Copyright 2002 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.