Grade 5–8—The cast ofThe Mother-Daughter Book Club(S & S, 2007) is back. Now the girls are in seventh grade, each responding to the social and academic challenges of middle school and impending teen years. This year, the club is reading books by Lucy Montgomery, starting withAnne of Green Gables. Each member and her mother find something to relate to in the books, even the snarky Becca Chadwick who, with her dictatorial parent, joins the club. Different perspectives are provided as each chapter is told in the alternating voices of Emma (writer), Jess (farm girl), Cassidy (athletic tomboy), and Megan (fashion diva). The pace is fast, the concerns and emotions real. The girls are gutsy problem-solvers, with plausibly presented emotions. Adult characterizations, however, are almost clichéd (Emma's mother, for example, is especially bright as she's a librarian, and the patience of Cassidy's mom's love interest doesn't falter until the final pages). The resolution is a bit romanticized but satisfying. As in the first book, Frederick connects a classic title to contemporary problems.—Maria B. Salvadore, formerly at Washington DC Public Library
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