CLUBS

“The clubs epidemic breaks out in March like a giant nit plague. It spreads through our class ’til practically everyone’s infected.” So reports young journal-writer Lorenza (“but you’d better call me Lolly, or there’ll be big trouble”) Leopold, as she launches into chatty descriptions of the Barbie Club, the Kitten Club, the Lego Club and the Harry Potter Club. Why is she telling this story? Because her tattooed and adored teacher Ms. Love has promised to play the trumpet on Grandparents Day as a reward. Backed by garish, splashy watercolor portraits and spread-filling flights of fancy, Lolly’s lengthy but legibly hand-lettered commentary on her cliquish classmates will find a ready audience in fans of Marissa Moss’s Amelia productions. A companion, Billy (ISBN: 978-1-74114-892-3), is also out. (Fiction. 8-10)