SHOOTING STAR SUMMER
by Candice F. Ransom & illustrated by Karen Milone
A realistic story about two unlike cousins during a vacation visit. Shannon once won a baby contest, starred in her kindergarten play, and now arrives at the narrator's farm with a suitcase full of dresses; it takes her tomboy cousin a while to warm to her, but after some shared activities, the two become friends. All predictable but wholesome; and Ransom's comfortably accessible narration reads smoothly, with details that make the changed relationship believable. In Milone's nicely composed art, the girls are lively and appealingly pretty without being oversweet. A good choice for an early read-alone. (Picture book. 4-8)