THE CHIHUAHUA CHASE

Fourth grader Addie May and her frenemy Teddy find more than they bargained for in the run-up to the big Chihuahua race downtown. Sometimes Teddy is as mean as a snake and then, out of the blue, Addie May sees a sweet side. Teddy turns to Addie May when his beloved Phantom disappears after his move to her neighborhood, and the two kind-of friends put their heads together to solve the mystery. An animal-rights activist becomes the children’s prime suspect, which leads the children into a scary encounter with her and her house of “rescued animals.” Laced into the story of the sudden absence of Teddy’s pet are the burgeoning and confusing emotions that Addie May feels for both Teddy and older, hunky Zack. In the end, Phantom is found, and Addie May learns a little bit about the ways boys show affection in the fourth grade. The third-person voice is familiar—almost too much so, as it can become distracting and does a lot of telling instead of showing. Not the leader of the pack. (Fiction. 7-11)