LITTLE DIVAS

The summer her mother goes off to work in Ghana, 12-year-old Cassidy moves in with her father, discovers cracks in her relationship with her cousin and best friend, makes a friend of her new neighbor and discovers that hateful Travis isn’t so bad after all. Most important, following the example of Rikki and her older sister Mary, Cassidy experiments with keeping things from her father. The result is exactly what Cassidy has been worrying about all summer: Her father decides to send her to a private all-girls school instead of having her start seventh grade with her cousin at the public junior high. Set in an integrated Ohio neighborhood, this summer story of friendship and growing up reads like the beginning of a series. Not as steamy as the author’s adult work, this debut for middle-grade readers does include some kissing and a homily on condom use, without using the word. It will be particularly welcome to young African-American girls who may recognize themselves, their families and their schoolmates, and who will be eager to know how Cass gets on at Clara Ellis Academy for Girls. (Fiction. 10-13)