Megan McDonald

When her class celebrates "fun with food" week, Beetle (who yearns for adventure) declares she will eat an entirely new food group: insects. Lively language and zany illustrations combine to present an ultimately gutsy girl with altogether real qualms.

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When Daisy Jane's favorite babysitter gets married, she asks Daisy Jane to be her flower girl, just like they had pretended when Allie babysat. After shopping and lots of practice, the special day comes with ultimately happy results.

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A tale becomes tangled among the farm animals, so Hen sets out to get it straight with humorous results. Language repeats and is predictable with crisp, well-placed illustrations.

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Attractive, highly realistic illustrations accompany engaging language as readers follow a hermit crab in search of a new home. Along the way, a variety of other sea creatures and their habitats are introduced in this warm and winning book.

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The family vacation to Boston not only reinforces all that Judy Moody knows about the American Revolution, it sets her off on her course of independence! Humor abounds in this adventure of the likeable 3rd grader and her family.

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In the latest installment, Judy Moody is told she's just not working up to her potential in math class. Judy wonders what she'll get when she meets with her tutor — whom she does — but with typical Judy Moody verve and vivacity.

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Eleven-year-old John tells his siblings how he and his father helped hide the Liberty Bell from the British while on a trip from their farm into the Philadelphia. Light-toned illustrations complement this well-told tale. Fact is separated from fiction at book’s end.

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When Stink and his friends, Webster and Sophie, find three runaway guinea pigs in their Great Wall (made from cereal boxes), they return them to the pet store — with humorous mayhem resulting. The pace of this funny new Stink adventure is spot on!

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Stink gets a huge batch of jawbreakers when he writes a letter of complaint and so is inspired to write other companies. While he receives other things for his letter writing, Judy Moody's little brother comes to realize that there are really more important things in his life.

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Stink's real name is James, just like President James Madison. And like Madison, Stink is short — a notion constantly reinforced by his older sister Judy. Stink, however, learns how to cope with it while along the way learning about U.S. presidents.

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Three sisters — Joey, Stevie, and Alex (ages 8, 10, and 12) — each contribute to the telling through journal entries and their own narration to reveal a talented, energetic family. Journal entries in child-like writing vary the format and introduce a bubbly dimension.

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