A GREATER GOODE

This ambitious first novel squeezes in a lot of plot, but the voice of the likable, outspoken 12-year-old narrator will sustain readers. Addie Goode lives with her father in Pennsylvania by the Delaware River. Her mother left them when she was three. After she discovers that her best friend, Luke, is going away to a brainy summer program ("Luke's like a genius, you know, like that guy Stephen... what's his name?... A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H—Hawkings, that's his name"), Addie befriends Rachel, a 23-year-old pregnant woman who's abused by her boyfriend. Next, Luke's father has a heart attack, and Addie's own father gets engaged. Despite the occasionally heavy-handed writing (Addie's habit of searching for forgotten words by running through the alphabet gets tiring; Rachel's reunion with her father and dying mother, seems a bit syrupy), readers will warm to Addie, who "always makes friends wherever she goes." Her relationships with her family and friends come across as genuine and heartfelt (Addie's father always says "I love you" before he hangs up the phone, even when he's mad at her, and her fiery housekeeper tells Luke that she's proud of Addie for helping Rachel). An authenticity also informs the nuances of Rachel's relationship with her boyfriend. Readers will be able to overlook the abundance of details and enjoy Addie's clumsy but well-intentioned attempts to reunite Rachel with her family, even as she works through the lingering pain of being abandoned by her own mother. Ages 10-14. (Apr.)