GOOD GRIEF...THIRD GRADE

After years of growing up with Collette Murphy, readers are thrust back in time to see what Sacred Heart Elementary is like from the perspective of one of her two best friends. Marsha has vowed not to get into trouble and to make this school year a good one, especially because she likes the student teacher, Miss Murtland. But Marsha's good intentions and penchant for lying butt up against Roger Friday's natural high spirits; the combination nearly gets one of them tossed out of school. McKenna fans will like this peek at Marsha's motives, often obscure in the other stories, but Roger's scenes are the real pleasure; the author paints an intriguing portrait of a boy who seems deceptively like a potential bully—perfectly exasperating but ultimately shown to be (fairly) well-meaning. The children have funny, typical school quarrels; as a writer of light fare, McKenna again weighs in with a real look at real kids. (Fiction. 8-10)