I Repeat, Don't Cheat!

June 1, 2010

Worrywart Jessica has a new, unexpected problem: Her best friend, Lizzie, has begun copying off Jessica's spelling tests and lying about the rules of games. When they work on their homework together, somehow Lizzie gets Jessica to write her T-word poem for her. When Lizzie steals Jessica's math money, Jessica can't hold it in anymore. A talk from Mr. Martin and some time at the thinking desk for Lizzie restores the girls' BFF status. While Cuyler captures the pain felt by a child when betrayed by a best friend, she provides no back story to account for Lizzie's wrongdoing, which will mystify readers, and their sudden detente is unsatisfying. Howard's cartoons are pleasing, but the two girls are regrettably similar in look, making it difficult to tell the adversaries apart. A misstep. (Picture book. 5-9)

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May 15, 2010
Grades K-2 Loyalty is the theme in this lively picture book by the creators of Bullies Never Win (2009). Jessica is a worrywart, and her latest source of anxiety is her best friend, Lizzie, who copies Jessicas spelling words and lies to the teacher. Should Jessica say something to Lizzie, to the teacher, or to Mom and Dad? If she tells, her friend will be mad. If she keeps quiet, she will feel dishonest and angry. The bold, cartoon-style scenarios in pen, ink, and watercolor are uncluttered and keep the focus on Jessica, at first fuming in the classroom until, finally, she explodes, and the teacher talks to her about what helping means. Of course, the friends make up, and Lizzie apologizes and draws her friend a picture labeled Bes frens 4 ever. The happy ending about forgiveness will spark as much discussion as the conflict will: neither is easy, and both words and pictures capture the complexity of the situation, to which there is no neat resolution.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)