PICK OF THE LITTER

An only child's perfect world is upset when her mother gives birth to quadruplets. Though at first excited by the approaching event, 11-year-old Cat soon finds herself moving from a big bedroom full of the old mirrors she's collecting for ballet practice to a room barely big enough for her bed. When the four boys are born, local newspapers ignore her existence; and since Cat is adopted, she cringes every time people discuss ""who he looks like."" Her best friend Noreen, who describes herself as a slave to her five brothers and predicted disaster from the beginning, suggests that they join a traveling carnival as a dancing tattooed sisters act. But during an eye-opening visit to the reigning tattoo lady, Dazzling Drinelda, the girls learn that the smallest quad is dying; tiny Max's death brings Cat back into the family circle. Told in the first person, this well-paced story is a successful blend of dramatic realism and far-out comic touches. Kids will laugh at Cat's ballet recital disaster, cringe at Wella Mae (the know-it-all ballet star), and empathize with Cat's feelings of being unloved and neglected. A good choice to encourage the middle-grade reader.