SEEING SUGAR

Fourth-grader Kate Martin’s life swings from perfect to miserable and back again in this predictable offering. One minute she’s sitting in the front row, near beloved teacher Miss Burke, basking in all the privileges of the chair. But life changes suddenly when soft-spoken Sugar Rose Simms moves in from Georgia and takes the special seat, relegating Kate to the back row “in Alaska.” While Brinson gets the mood swings and behavior of self-centered Kate right, the voice of the adult narrator is awkward, even using the jargon of the students. The third person takes on the odd tone of an annoying grade-schooler, not an omniscient narrator. Would a new soft-spoken, kind, and shy student really be able to ruin Kate’s life? Wouldn’t Kate have noticed that her eyesight is weak before the move to the back row? Would she instantly bounce back from her day-after-day tantrum once she realizes that her poor eyesight has obscured her perception of Sugar herself? The quick resolution and didactic tone make this lesson-laden story all the more implausible. It will take a lot more than a spoonful of sugar to make this medicine go down. (Fiction. 8-12)