Fearless Fernie: Hanging Out with Fernie and Me

Gary Soto. Putnam Publishing Group, $14.99 (64pp) ISBN 978-0-399-23615-0

Gary Soto explores a friendship forged at birth and the adolescent growing pains of two middle school boys in Body Parts in Rebellion: Hanging Out with Fernie and Me, illus. by Regan Dunnick. From sports tryouts to teacher trouble to memories of long ago, the more than 40 poems deliver a thoughtful perspective on universal themes. (Mar.)

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