LIZZIE LOGAN GETS MARRIED

The friends from Lizzie Logan Wears Purple Sunglasses (1995) return, and now Heather's best friend, the bossy Lizzie, is getting married. Actually, her mother's tying the knot, but Lizzie, as usual, takes over, enlisting Heather as flower girl and violin soloist (although Heather doesn't have a clue about playing the violin), and finding a role in the ceremony for Sam, the Logans' dog. Lizzie appears to be a real take-charge person, but it doesn't take Heather long to figure out that underneath the bravado, Lizzie is scared to death that the wedding won't come off and she won't have the father she so desperately wants. While the friendship between the two girls is believable, the humor is often strident and forced; at times it's even derivative of such books as Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, without Judy Blume's easy hilarity. (Fiction. 7-10)