BIZ WHIZ

Third-grader Flossie is not among the favorites of her classmates.

They find her overbearing and rather bossy. When the class learns that they need to raise money in order to fund a new garden, Flossie has—as always—lots of ideas. In fact, every time she gets one of these great (from her point of view) plans, she begins “to tingle and glow from head to toe.” Since her ideas have a track record of, well, failure, no one really wants to team up with her. That lot falls to hapless Billy, the new boy, who happens to live in her building. Flossie decides they should sell produce grown on Billy’s family farm—not a success. The next plan is to cater a classmate’s birthday party and provide a magic show. The pet rat Flossie brings along finishes that scheme off disastrously. Flossie is discouraged, but Billy helps her come up with a workable scheme. The happiest news, however, is that he’s now her friend. Presented in a large, easy-to-read font and accompanied by Collet-Derby’s ample, stylized illustrations, in black, white, and green, this early chapter book features believable interactions between the sexes. Billy and Flossie are both paper-white, but one illustration shows that two of their classmates are of another race (depicted as green!).

Amusing and not too daunting for transitioning readers.