The Fourth Grade Wizards

Until her mother's death, Marianne was an attentive, motivated student. Now she daydreams in class and doesn't do her work, despite the efforts of her father and her teacher. To Marianne, school is not as relevant to her life as worrying about the dingy apartment she and her father live in, her wish to own a wolf hybrid (half-wolf, half-dog) and the pushy girl who lives across the way. With the help of her friend Jeff, the class clown, Marianne manages to make it through the school days. Not until she and her father move to a new house does Marianne begin to settle into a routine againone that includes her wolf-dog and a new neighbor, Lacy, who may become her stepmother. Although the ending is somewhat predictable in this prequel to Nothing's Fair in Fifth Grade , DeClements has written a provocative story about one girl's loneliness. Ages 8-12. (Oct.)