The New Girl . . . and Me
Kindergarten-Grade 2–On Shakeeta's first day at a new school, most of the girls are eager to show her around, but Mia hangs back shyly. The next day, the fickle girls blithely desert Shakeeta to play soccer with a popular boy who refuses to include her. Left by themselves, Shakeeta and Mia gradually strike up a conversation and a friendship is born. While no unfamiliar territory is explored here, the characters are realistically and sympathetically portrayed, and the conversations and actions of the children are natural. Phelan's cartoon-style watercolors depict a realistic-looking classroom with a mix of children from a variety of backgrounds. The pale hues are nicely set off by crisp white backgrounds, and the characters' facial expressions are filled with personality and convey a wide range of emotion.–Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.