DREAM GIRL

After a strained beginning, this faux-glamour, almost-realistic novel picks up charm galore. Claire Voyante has vivid dream visions of no consequence—the visions’ details appear later in real life but lead nowhere. Until, that is, she makes a new friend who’s in danger. At glum Henry Hudson High in New York City, Claire’s lonely and new and bullied by an ex-friend, so she latches on to Becca, a funky-dressing “ketchup heiress.” Oddly, Becca’s wealth dazzles Claire despite Claire’s weekly visits to her own rich former-socialite grandmother, who resides at the Waldorf-Astoria and passes down high-fashion name-brand gowns. Grandma Kiki’s gift of a cameo necklace brings Claire’s visions into starker clarity. She steps neatly into a detective role, jet-sets to Paris and London and exposes a mole who’s placing the ketchup royalty (Becca’s family) in great danger. Although the slight fantasy element (the clairvoyance) feels awkwardly extraneous, Claire’s offbeat family and lighthearted mystery-adventure—with romance included—are abundantly appealing. (Fiction. 11-14)