Make Like a Tree and Leave

Danziger's novels are like cotton candy: they're fun and light, and children positively gobble them up. In this sequel to Everyone Else's Parents Said Yes , Matthew Martin gets into a whole new set of scrapes, the most humorous being a sequence in which he wraps a friend as a mummy for a school project, with near-disastrous results. Later, when it looks as if an elderly neighbor's accident may force the sale of her farm to pay for medical expenses, Matthew and his schoolmates join in the community effort to buy the land--by organizing a pet wash. In addition to her customarily funny, energetic writing, Danziger offers valid insights into the tensions created in a town between those who want to preserve the land and those who want to develop it. The narrative's point of view occasionally shifts unexpectedly among characters, which readers may find somewhat jarring. Ages 9-12. (Sept.)