Sticker Girl

Nine-year-old Marti, the middle child in a warm and boisterous Latino family, is so shy that she can barely speak at school. Marti desperately wants friends, but has trouble reaching out to the kids in her class. Instead she spends her time on her favorite hobby: stickers. When her father returns from a business trip with a sheet of stickers for Marti, given to him by a mysterious old woman, she is shocked to see them come to life. These magical stickers yield an offbeat set of characters including a lazy fairy, a blunt cupcake, and a karaoke-singing ladybug, all of whom help Marti find the strength to make friends and come out of her shell. Tashjian (the Einstein the Class Hamster series) sympathetically portrays the fears that can derail an otherwise confident girl like Marti, whose emotional journey is both realistic and humorous, as when Craig the cupcake impersonates Marti’s voice to invite her entire class to a party. Newcomer Wilmink’s emoji-cute illustrations, not all seen by PW, play well with the upbeat tone of this satisfying series kickoff. Ages 8–12. [em](Oct.) [/em]