Winerip (9
Highland Road
, for adults) delivers a terrific crash course in Journalism 101 within this acerbic satire featuring a junior Woodward and Bernstein. Adam, "the most overprogrammed middle school student in America," and Jennifer, who keeps her many balls in the air with more ease, have been named co-editors of the Slash
. This award-winning Harris Elementary/Middle newspaper was named either for the diagonal line in the school's name or, according to a former editor, for villainous Principal Marris's tendency to "[slash] anything interesting out of every article." The team's tenure begins with a pesky but smart third-grade reporter's glowing profile of the unsung hero of a school janitor—which inadvertently reveals some shady dealings afoot, linked to the principal's gold-plated bathroom fixtures. Adam and Jennifer work to get the goods on Marris, and create enough outrage to overturn a law with fine print banning basketball hoops from front yards. Through his characters, Pulitzer prize–winning journalist Winerip makes a statement about standardized tests, onerous zoning regulations and mergers that land all local media in the hands of one "telecommunications magnate." Fans of Carl Hiaasen's Hoot
will find the same cynical humor at work here, as well as villains just as baldly caricatured. Between laughs, readers will also be prompted to think—about what constitutes truth, how the media massages it, and the importance of ethics, fairness and getting the facts right. Ages 8-12. (Apr.)
