The Ones That Got Away

Being a first-round Cybils judge has been an eye-opening experience. Reading a year's worth of easy readers and early chapter books in a concentrated time span proved that cream truly rises to the top. Unfortunately there was more cream than slots on the short list. That meant that some of my favorite chapter books didn't make the final cut. So here are the books I wish could have been shoehorned in, with links to my reviews.

Bad Kitty Meets the Baby

Marty McGuire

No. 1 Car Spotter

Toys Come Home

Marty McGuire

Marty McGuire is my kind of gal. She'd rather be ankle deep in mud than playing dress-up with the other three-grade girls. So when she's chosen to be the princess in the class production of The Frog Prince, she flat out refuses. Not that it does her much good. Between her teacher and her mother, she's pressured into accepting the part. When an actor coach teaches the class about improvisation, Marty decides to do a little improvising on her own. Let's just say she recasts the role of the frog and leave it at that.

The school play isn't the only predicament Marty faces. Third grade hasn't started out all that well. She has a nemesis, Veronica Grace Smithers, a princessy-type of girl who's stolen Marty's best friend away. Or at least that's how Marty sees it. By the book's end, this subplot concludes in a believable and satisfying way.

Kate Messner (The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z) has created a spunky, likeable character in Marty. As Marty's teacher reminds her, she's "...somebody with a lot of talent and confidence. Somebody with a strong voice and lots of energy. Somebody brave and smart who can think on her feet." Marty follows in the rambunctious footsteps of Ramona and Clementine. Readers of early chapter books will be delighted to meet her acquaintance.

Marty McGuire
by Kate Messner
illustrations by Brian Floca
Scholastic, 144 pages
Published: May 2011