AGNES PARKER... GIRL IN PROGRESS

In this accomplished first novel, O'Dell probes the sixth-grade mindset pithily and perceptively. In the opening scene, Agnes Parker rides her bike frantically to her best friend Prejean's house on the last night of their summer vacation; she is late to view their favorite TV show. She takes a shortcut and encounters her nemesis, Neidermeyer; the girl calls Agnes "Gagness" and hurls a dodgeball that nearly knocks the heroine off-balance. The author thus sets the stage for the book's central conflicts. With a delectable predictability, the three wind up in the same homeroom on the first day of school. Enter Joe Waldrip ("What is it about him? He seems to be ultra three-dimensional," Agnes thinks when she first spies him), whom Neidermeyer adopts immediately for his athletic ability and who turns out to be living with his grandmother—right behind Agnes's house. Joe acts as a catalyst, creating waves in Agnes's friendship with Prejean and also opening the heroine's eyes to another side of Neidermeyer. Along the way, the author addresses spot-on issues for the characters who teeter on the edge of adolescence—Agnes gets jealous when she spots Prejean wearing a bra; boy-girl friendships grow awkward as romantic feelings arise; kids begin to redefine their relationships with their parents. Charming, yet by no means flawless, Agnes is a heroine nearly everyone can embrace. Ages 10-14. (Apr.)