Oh. My. Gods.

Starred review from May 26, 2008
Phoebe Castro's plans for her senior year undergo a radical makeover when her widowed mother returns early from a Greek vacation, engaged to a man she's just met and determined to whisk Phoebe off to the tiny Aegean island of Serfopoula, where her future stepfather runs the academy that Phoebe will attend. The twist: it's Plato's Academy, now filled with the descendants of the Greek gods and goddesses. Debut author Childs's creativity in manipulating mythology gives an otherwise familiar plot a fun, fresh update. The academy's cliques, for example, include the Zeus/Hera set (into “power, privilege, and partying”), the Poseidon crowd (surfers) and nerds, who descend from Hephaestus (“I think he's embarrassed by them,” one student confides). Add the romantic island setting, snappy dialogue, boys as handsome as Adonis, a few conniving (but ultimately harmless) villains and a protagonist who is a hard-core athlete as much as a girl who squeals about the possibility of a date, and together they make an effervescent, fast-paced read. Ages 12–up.

June 1, 2008
Gr 7 Up-Phoebe Castro is a distance runner who plans on winning a full-ride cross-country scholarship to USC with her two best friends. Then her mother returns from a family reunion abroad with a Greek fiancé who runs a private school and announces that she and Phoebe will be moving to an island in the Aegean. The news gets worse as the teen arrives to find out that there is no scheduled ferry service from the island. To top off everything, she learns that every other student is descended from one or more Greek gods. Her new stepfather tells her that she cannot share this fact with anyone, for the safety of everyone on Serfopoula. Things seem to be looking up when she meets an absolutely gorgeous guy while running on the beach and, despite her lack of divine ancestry, she is granted a provisional place on the cross-country team. The IMs fly back and forth between Greece and southern California, magical hijinks abound, and classes and practice keep the protagonist busy. The story is part "Harry Potter," part Rick Riordan's "The Lightning Thief" (Hyperion/Miramax, 2005), and part shojo, and it will keep teens, particularly girls, reading to find out if Phoebe will finally fit in, get her crush, and make the team."Eric Norton, McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids, WI"

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