VIRTUAL CODY

Cody Michaels, hero of Hey, New Kid! (1996), is keeping a computer journal in his third-grade class, where Ms. Harvey has announced that each child will give an oral report on his or her name. Cody and his nemesis, P.J., are certain their names are the coolest in the class until they find out their real origins—he's named after his mother's beloved dog, and P.J. is named for an aunt who invented the musical potty chair. Meanwhile, everyone is working on naming the class rabbit. These labors are amusing, though P.J.'s hostility becomes tiresome. The most interesting and entertaining parts of the book are the emoticons Cody includes at the end of his journal entries, clever little faces and creatures he has invented; unfortunately, the wit he demonstrates in his journal does not show up anywhere else in his life or in the novel. That omission turns the computer journal into an enjoyable gimmick almost wholly unrelated to the rest of the book. (b&w illustrations, not seen) (Fiction. 7-10)