(4) YA When best friends/girlfriends Josie and Annette leave home to attend boarding school together, straightforward Josie doesn't fit in, while Annette, welcomed by the "Soleets" ("Social Elites"), remains closeted and grows increasingly self-destructive. A subplot involving Josie's underground adventures in the school's steam tunnels is intriguing but poorly integrated; nevertheless, Josie's struggle to define herself in a challenging new context, sans Annette, rings true.

Reviewer: Claire E. Gross

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Loek Koopmans. Scrooge-like Stella never shares her prizewinning raspberry pies and preserves. After she contends with the bear who starts stealing her berries, she mends her ways. While the story will hold readers' attention, the reason for Stella's change of heart is murky. The sunlit, green-and-yellow-hued watercolors depict a grizzly bear instead of the black bear named in the text.

Reviewer: CHristine Sarrazin