ABIGAIL IRIS

Third grader Abigail Iris is a happy-go-lucky girl. She has a nearly giddy relationship with her loving parents and an almost perfect one with her three siblings, two of whom are half brothers. She feels the pinch, however, of a budgeted household and the inconvenience of sharing her bedroom. She is ecstatic when she can go on vacation with her friend Genevieve, an only child. Instead of camping, they stay in a fancy hotel in San Francisco. Though the perks are great—room service!—Genevieve’s dad is always on his cell phone, her mom verges on cranky and Genevieve starts to appear a bit spoiled. Gaining a new perspective, Abigail begins to miss her family. When the vacation is called to an abrupt halt Abigail is happy enough to adopt the authors’ message: Being one of many is just fine, and more wealth is sometimes worse than less. With Allen’s periodic homespun sketches and a breezy first-person text, this sweet slip of a story is recommended for those girls feeling the squeeze of a crowded and blended family. (Fiction. 7-10)