The best fiction stories offer insights into life without being preachy. Just in time for back-to-school, Wong's story focuses on Jenna and the peer pressure she faces when Rolly, the most popular girl in the fourth grade, suddenly wants to be friends. Rather than wanting to be friends, Rolly wants Jenna, who is very smart, to allow her to cheat. Simple chapters alternate with illustrations of email text and comic strip panels showing dialogue between kids and adults that are part of, but not critical to, the story and show thoughts and expressions of feelings. Readers in third through fifth grade will enjoy getting to know Jenna and her classmates, but the story also offers some excellent opportunities to consider the ramifications of cheating and resolving conflicts, as well as doing the right thing even when that is harder than passing a math test.
Jeanette Larson, Books Editor, teaches children’s literature for the School of Library & Information Studies at Texas Woman’s University
