(2) YA Ninth grader Jacki approaches life with a glass-half-full attitude--even when recession hits her California town. This serves her well when her family must downgrade its lifestyle. As Jacki daydreams about giving her sister a prom dress and finding her mom a job, admirers will be captivated by her clumsy charm and the realization that a little optimism goes a long way.

Reviewer: Chelsey Philpot | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2010

(3) YA Fourteen-year-old Isabelle is one of the lucky ones--a survivor of stage IV Hodgkin's lymphoma. In her first-person narrative, Izzy explores her horrific cancer treatment, including six painful rounds of chemo. Although the novel concludes with a feel-good but unnecessary tidy-up, it contains lots of good humor (Izzy has an amiably sardonic edge) and a portrait of talent (Izzy is an intuitive artist).

Reviewer: Susan P. Bloom

(2) 4-6 This is a story of three best friends and a love triangle. The story's unidentified narrator points out early on that while many threes have strength and power, "threesomes in friendship can be very wobbly." The narrator tells the story very much as a teenage girl might: repeatedly backing up and taking detours. If you are an actual seventh grader, this method of sharing information will probably make complete sense.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2003

(4) 4-6 Six students describe, in first-person narratives, the consequences of a middle-school cheating scandal. Sarah supplies the answers to the exam to her friends; Kate decides she can't cheat; Rob cheats but, when caught, cannot face his abusive father. The prose strains under the effort to make each character's voice distinct, but readers will be intrigued by the premise.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(4) K-3 Dial Easy-to-Read series. Illustrated by Laura J. Bryant. "When we cut an onion up, / We break apart its cells. / Inside the cell is onion oil, / Which really, really smells!" This newly illustrated collection ponders fourteen familiar questions, including "How do birds fly?" and "What is the sound in a seashell?" The cheery art reflects the tone of the lighthearted, informative verse. Despite a few singsongy passages, the accessible poems will find many classroom uses.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn

(2) 4-6 John travels from Kansas to L.A. alone, hoping for some quality guy time during his annual visit with his dad. As Dad races off for meetings and his latest girlfriend shows up for every meal, John quickly realizes that nothing has changed. The plot seems predictable (John turns the situation around and begins a healing connection with Dad), but Koss turns cliché into reality through the believability of her characters, especially likable, nerdy narrator John.

Reviewer: Susan P. Bloom | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2001

(3) 4-6 When the union at the town newspaper goes on strike, Gwen and her cousin Jess end up on opposite sides of the picket line--one of their dads is union, the other management. The strike tears apart both their friendship and the summer baseball league Gwen lives for. The ramifications of the strike are given a nuanced portrayal, while Gwen's efforts to untangle her feelings about it have a ring of authenticity.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(3) 4-6 After the tragic death of her aunt Beth, Robyn and her family attempt to heal by traveling to Austria for a vacation. Robyn records their funny and often touching adventures in her diary, including her mother's first moments of waking from the overwhelming loss of her sister. Robyn's narrative voice convincingly captures her family's coping with the death of a loved one.

Reviewer: Mary R. Holt

(2) YA One Saturday morning a girl finds out that her group of friends, for reasons unknown, has decided to exclude her. As the short novel moves over the course of the weekend, five girls narrate in turns, each moving the story forward as well as providing sometimes unwitting commentary on her friends' versions of events. The story is the stuff of series paperbacks, but Koss succeeds in taking it to its dramatic core without becoming generic.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2000

(3) 4-6 In order to get the handsome Mike Humphrey to notice her, sixth-grader Mitzi takes an extreme measure: she lies and tells Mike her mother is dying. To add to her problems, her mother is in a terrible mood because she's trying to quit smoking, and Mitzi's best friend finds another friend. The escalating reverberations of Mitzi's lie are told with humor and sympathy.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(1) 4-6 Twelve-year-old Hillary's peripatetic, hippie-holdover parents decide to housesit in California for nine months--the longest stay anywhere in Hillary's memory. Koss artfully sidesteps the predictable and crafts a truly original piece of fiction brimming with humor and insight. Hillary's smart, lightly ironic voice controls both the narrative and the probing introspection of her journal entries.

Reviewer: Susan P. Bloom | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 1999

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Diane deGroat. Hanukkah is a negligible holiday in Marla Feinstein's very-secular family. In the believable voice of a disgruntled fourth grader, Marla determines to make some changes; she rails, "If we can't have Christmas because we're so Jewish... then let's at least be Jewish." DeGroat's background illustrations show friends and family in sweet closeness in this gentle and funny holiday story.

Reviewer: Susan P. Bloom | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 1998

(3) 4-6 When animal-lover Ava and her best friend Zinny don't talk about the one thing they disagree on--animals--their friendship disintegrates, especially after someone accuses Zinny's mother of cruelly killing a raccoon. Ava and Zinny's relationship is compelling, and the tension they resolve is believably portrayed.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.