The Sisters Club

August 25, 2003
The creator of the Judy Moody novels introduces a trio of similarly spunky girls, three sisters—ages eight, 10 and "123/4"—whose parents are both actors. Their mother lands a job as the host of a TV cooking show (though she has no culinary skills) and their father spends much of his time creating sets for a local theater. In this novel divided into four acts (plus an intermission), the three siblings take turns playing the role of narrator. The eldest, aspiring thespian Alex, offers her take on the goings-on through scripts sprinkled with sometimes acerbic asides. Joey, the youngest, relays her side of the story through chatty notebook entries, which include such sidebars as a list of her favorite stuffed animals and the reasons why she loves Jell-O. Occupying center stage is Stevie (whose only acting experience to date was a short, disastrous run as a human piñata) who reveals her fears that her position as middle child renders her invisible and calls herself "Plain old boring vanilla." Yet her father likens her to the vanilla middle of an Oreo ("You're the creamy center of the cookie that holds it all together. You're the glue"), and she proves him right. Stevie assumes the role of family chef (with comically calamitous results), acts as peacemaker and fills in for Alex on stage when she breaks her foot mid-performance. Featuring many madcap moments, McDonald's family comedy is both affecting and believable. Ages 10-up.

March 1, 2011

Gr 4-7-In this story about the Reel sisters, Stevie, 12, gives her perspective on the changing nature of boy-girl relationships at school, while Alex, 14, contributes screenplay story lines chronicling her quiet admiration for fellow thespian Scott Howell. Joey, 10, adds lists and doodles to illustrate her disgust for her sisters' new attitudes toward kissing a boy. Cloudy uses weather, frogs, and Romeo and Juliet as the backdrop to a story focused on the sweeter side of sisterhood. Dialogue and situations will ring true for both new readers and fans.-Colleen S. Banick, Tomlinson Middle School, Fairfield, CT

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2011

First kisses have Stevie Reel and her older sister Alex on opposite sides of the male-interest spectrum, while youngest sister Joey cannot even imagine considering boys over her frogs. This latest Sister Club volume balances middle-school co-ed hilarity with values and pre-adolescent angst. When Alex, the family's star actress, unexpectedly loses the school's leading role of Juliet to Jayden "Fluffernutter" Pffeffer's mediocre acting skills, her plans to experience a first kiss with her newest love interest, Scott Towel as Romeo, are thwarted. Furious, Alex quits the play and launches a spy mission with her two sisters to keep an eye on things and prevent Scott's first acting kiss. In science class, Stevie's cloud experiment gets a bit stormy when Owen "Wire Rims" O'Malley, her science partner, attempts a first kiss, which ends in an embarrassingly wet and icy fiasco for Stevie. McDonald keeps readers laughing with all the antics while expertly folding in Shakespeare references and double entendres in her now-familiar combination of journal-style entries from Joey's perspective, play scenes outlining Alex's viewpoint and an overall narrative told in Stevie's glib voice. (Fiction. 9-12)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

March 15, 2011
Grades 4-6 In the third Sisters Club book, sixth-grader Stevie and her younger sister, Joey, cant understand the big deal about boys, including their older sister Alexs obsession with her secret crush. Then Stevie meets new-boy Owen, and she starts to see the light, but dealing with those new feelingsand Owenisnt easy. Stevies first-person narrative is interspersed with entries from frog-fan Joey and aspiring actress Alex, lending depth and intimacy to this lively, amusing read. Readers will recognize the girls stresses and successes as they navigate the mysteries of boys and growing up.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2011
This book focuses on Stevie, the middle one of three siblings. After making a wish for something new and exciting to happen, she's not altogether happy to find it might have something to do with boys. Unlike her sisters, she really has no idea how to feel about the opposite sex. Tweens with similar qualms will find humor in Stevie's plight.

(Copyright 2011 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)