Genie Wishes

Gr 4–6—When fifth-grader Genie's best friend, Sarah, becomes friends with Blair, a boy-crazy new girl, everything seems to change. Genie wonders if the transitory property in math also works in friendship: if A is friends with B and B is friends with C, does that mean A is friends with C? Readers follow Genie in her elected position of class blogger as she navigates the final year in the lower grades of her exclusive Baltimore private school through the formation of cliques; bra-snapping; and a secret, malicious blog. Diversity is represented mainly through names and nontraditional families. Readers may have trouble relating to the high socioeconomic status of some of the characters (Blair and Sarah, especially) but frank and honest insights into evolving relationships, changing bodies, and secrets greatly make up for the credit-card-only, tween at-home cosmetics party. Small line drawings add humor to the story. Dahl's first novel is reminiscent of the early installments in Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's "Alice" series (S & S) and will appeal to a similar, if more modern, audience.—Jennifer Wolf, Beaverton City Library, OR