cover image RUN FROM THE NUN!

RUN FROM THE NUN!

Erin MacLellan, . . Holiday, $16.95 (128pp) ISBN 978-0-8234-1796-4

Despite its catchy title, MacLellan's debut novel about fifth graders in a Catholic school is less madcap fun than rather tiresome. Ten-year-old Kara McKinney rebels when her parents decide she needs more discipline and structure, and enroll her in St. Joan of Arc School. Kara devises a number of ploys to get herself expelled, but her attempts at self-sabotage routinely backfire and have the unintended effect of bringing her closer to her new classmates and teachers (yes, especially the nuns). MacLellan initially sets up some solid dramatic tension involving middle-school allegiances and jealousies, but her over-the-top plot elements (e.g., Kara and a classmate suspect that the janitor digs up bodies in the cemetery adjacent to the playground) and often clichéd scenarios drain the energy from her storytelling. Ages 8-12. (Nov.)