Emma has now reached her next milestone: She is in her second month of third grade at her new school. She is the same insecure person she was in September, but now she’s looking for friends besides the controlling Cynthia. Even though Cynthia can be mean and has a bad habit of making up mocking names for classmates, Emma doesn’t want to dump her, but she wants to have other friends as well. When Emma and new-ish friend Annie Pat cook up a little of Cynthia’s own medicine, they quickly regret their actions. While readers will at times tire of Emma’s self-pity, her refreshing voice rings true with the angst that third graders can feel about school, their friends and their family. The energetic teacher, Ms. Sanchez, in a completely realistic moment of temper and quick thinking, moves the third graders from their name-calling to seeing the classroom as a place where everyone belongs. Young readers will recognize Emma and her classmates and will look forward to hearing how they do in the third month of school. (Fiction. 7-10)
