I BARFED ON MRS. KENLY

Likable Cleo has gotten herself into another fix, and this time she’s the victim of her own unpredictable stomach. Seems she can’t handle eating “tons of pancakes” and going on a car trip in the same morning. And sweet, fur-coat–clad Mrs. Kenly receives the full force of that bad combo. Cleo is a good storyteller, and her honest and funny first-person account of her little disaster builds slowly and dramatically, creating tension and drama even though the title tells the reader what is going to happen. Barfing will occur…but when and where? Cleo’s emotions are clear and recognizable. “I was as embarrassed as if I was sitting there naked with a pumpkin on my head.” Cleo soldiers on and, with Mrs. Kenly’s encouragement, moves past her embarrassment with an impressive display of diving. New readers and fans of Judy Moody and Ramona Quimby will find a new heroine to appreciate in the irrepressible Cleo. (Fiction. 6-9)