(3) PS Illustrated by Tom Murphy. A boy wakes up with a bunny named Fred on his head and encourages his skeptical mother to see the advantages of his new situation. With a rhyming text well matched to spare, slyly drawn illustrations, this playfully absurd story is simple, silly, and short: a good choice for starting up or closing out story hours.

Reviewer: Gay Pampalone

(3) YA Recently abandoned by her hopelessly selfish mother and left to deal with her depressed father, Kim falls head-over-heels for Maria, a beautiful and boozy classmate. Sexually explicit, contemptuous of adult authority, and overripe with British profanity, this raunchy coming-of-age story is surprisingly romantic and affecting.

Reviewer: Gay Pampalone

(3) YA Musical giant, savvy businessman, recovered addict, and lousy husband, the late Ray Charles still dazzles in this enthusiastic warts-and-all treatment. Sidebars on related topics broaden the context of his rise from poor blind boy to American icon, but what gives this book its soul is Charles himself, extensively quoted throughout. Timeline, websites. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Gay Pampalone

(3) 4-6 Ranger's Apprentice series. Will, an orphan, is apprenticed to the taciturn Ranger Halt. His childhood rival Horace is training at the elite Battleschool. Unbeknownst to either, an ancient foe prepares to strike their kingdom, launching an epic struggle--and a series that begins promisingly with this crisply written adventure.

Reviewer: Gay Pampalone

(3) YA Michael, a gangly high schooler who is better at getting grades than girls, keeps a witty journal during his hormone-drenched freshman year. The breezy entries winningly chronicle his stabs at romance as well as his dismay over his single mother's pregnancy and his unraveling relationship with his irresponsible father.

Reviewer: Gay Pampalone

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Jimmy Pickering. In cheery doggerel, a wide-eyed narrator reports on the late-night bash her clothing enjoys in her bedroom. Did her nightie really cha-cha-cha or is our narrator just making excuses for a messy room? The illustrations are energetic, with rounded figures, muted hues, and slightly askew perspectives, but the brief text is prone to tripping over its metric feet.

Reviewer: Gay Pampalone

(4) 4-6 Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series. In this first in a six-book saga, a boy with special powers, the wolf he loves like a brother, and a skeptic who becomes their greatest ally embark on a quest to protect their prehistoric clan of hunter/gatherers. After slogging through the opening chapters, readers will be rewarded with deftly paced suspense and plenty of action.

Reviewer: Gay Pampalone

(3) 4-6 When a strange new boy moves in next door, Lydia scornfully dubs him Ratboy because of his pet raccoon, but their relationship deepens as the secrets of their troubled families are slowly revealed. Set in small-town Indiana in 1962, this first novel is a heartfelt portrait of families destroyed by alcoholism and restored by kindness.

Reviewer: Gay Pampalone

(4) 4-6 A misfit female scientist, three clones (two human, one mostly canine), and other oddballs thwart an evil scientist in this frenzied British import. Although the comic writing is strong, the plot is often dizzying. Fans of logic and linear tellings will be put off, but lovers of the ludicrous should enjoy this and its promised sequel.

Reviewer: Gay Pampalone