STELLA STREET

paper 1-55037-514-8 The young people of Stella Street rightly suspect that their nasty, secretive new neighbors are up to no good in this rollicking farce. Henni, her younger sister Danielle, her friend Zev, and 6-year-old neighbor Frank watch in awe as the couple they dub “The Phonies” throw money around like there’s no tomorrow: They re-do their house in white (including the carpets); exchange their new Bentley for an even newer Mercedes; and, judging from their trash, travel all over the world. Henni narrates in a chatty, loose-jointed style, back-tracking, pausing to introduce her friends, interposing handwritten letters to God and the complaint notices from solicitors and government agencies that begin to arrive in volume at Frank’s house. A little snooping and a library book about money-laundering put Henni and friends on the right track; when Zev breaks open a bowling ball stuffed with cash that the Phonies are trying to smuggle out of the country, the jig’s up, but only after a wild airport chase scene. Unpracticed readers will sail through the short, dialogue-heavy chapters as this gaggle of young sleuths squares off against a truly odious pair of neighbors. (Fiction. 9-11)