A first novel about a school-sponsored pet show featuring a runaway rhea (entered by Buddy Zimmer, fifth-grade bully and all- around top dog) and a colony of ants that spells out a message on a honey-baited board (entered by J.B., Buddy's victim, desperate to make up for past humiliations). There's a realistic exploration of J.B.'s alternating feelings of affection and resentment toward his younger sister, but in the central bully/victim relationship J.B.'s reactions to Buddy are unbelievably mild. Descriptive passages are also a frequent problem: the reader is sometimes sidetracked by irrelevant detail; and some scenes are difficult to visualize because descriptions are imprecise. Indifferent b&w illustrations; the attractive color jacket gives away the ending. (Fiction. 7-9)
