Odessa Again

Nine-year-old Odessa isn't thrilled about her parents' divorce, but she does like that in her mom's new house, she has her own bedroom -- no more sharing with her toad of a brother. When she and Oliver have yet another fight, their mother sends Odessa to her room, where she stamps her feet in anger -- and finds herself sent back in time, exactly twenty-four hours earlier. Successive "jumps" take her back twenty-three hours, then twenty-two -- and she realizes she doesn't have endless opportunities. Initially freaked out, she soon starts to enjoy her power, using it to alter even the smallest things (her bangs, a quiz, an untimely fart). But as her chances (and hours) decrease, she regrets her choices and begins evaluating which things are truly worth changing. Young adult author Reinhardt (The Things a Brother Knows, rev. 11/10; The Summer I Learned to Fly, rev. 7/11) makes her own jump here, to middle-grade fiction. Despite the fantasy element (with which readers may find technical fault), the story is more a domestic tale of divorce, friendship, and family; kids will ponder what they'd re-do in their own lives. Although Odessa thinks she wants her dad and mom back together, she learns that everyone, including herself, can feel happy despite -- or even because of -- big, unchangeable changes. jennifer m. brabander