THE YEAR MY SISTER GOT LUCKY

Although not the star pupil at Anna Pavlova Academy like her older sister Michaela, high-school freshman Katya “Katie” Wilder is accustomed to the ballet school’s cutthroat atmosphere, as well as to the constant lights, noise and people of New York City, where she has lived her entire life. She feels betrayed, therefore, when her parents relocate the family to Fir Lake (pop. 2,100) in upstate New York so her mother can teach at a local university and her one-hit-wonder father can turn out another novel. Katie becomes upset over how easily her once-reserved sister gains a spot at the popular lunch table, the quarterback boyfriend and even the Homecoming Queen title, but even more by her once-close sister’s sudden secret-keeping. As Katie develops a few secrets and surprises of her own, a true best friend and the possibility of a boyfriend, she discovers that she and Michaela can be both independent and sisters forever, and that sometimes it takes a move to feel at home. For ultra chick-lit fans. (Fiction. YA)