Teacher's Pet

In this companion book to her popular Class Clown, Hurwitz focuses on Cricket Kaufman. A bright and highly motivated girl, Cricket is assigned to a teacher who refuses to play favorites and is scrupulously fair and even-handed. All of the teacher-pleasing techniques Cricket has perfected over the years don't work. Even worse, the new girl, Zoe Mitchell, is as smart as Cricketmaybe even smarter. Fourth grade turns out to be the year Cricket learns some hard lessons about competition, fairness and friendship. Throughout the story, Cricket remains a complex and ultimately sympathetic character; the book is full of similarly realistic, believable and likable kids. Hurwitz masterfully demonstrates why she is one of the premier practitioners of the humorous school story genre. Ages 8-12. (May)