STARTING SCHOOL WITH AN ENEMY

A story that starts out like any other about playground quarrels, but briskly moves into some gratifying intricacies about the nature of fighting and winning. Sarah’s family has just moved to Maryland from Maine; as the result of a misunderstanding, fifth-grader Sarah accidentally makes an enemy of Eric, a local jerk who seems dedicated to making her life miserable once school starts. Sarah is tough and feisty, and can give as good as she gets, but her efforts at revenge inspire Eric and alienate her friends, teachers, and family. It is finally Jerod, Sarah’s 15-year-old brother, who helps her see what she must do, while concealing his wisdom behind delightfully rendered versions of teenage grunts: “Eup,” “Watchupto?” and “Kive suma dat?” Sarah has a hard, Zen-like lesson to learn; her new friends are more important than her enemies, and the only way to get rid of Eric is to absorb his abuse without responding until he gets bored. Carbone keeps this realistic by not going too easily on her heroine; Eric doesn’t get bored right away, so Sarah withstands a lot of misery before she attains her goal. It doesn’t hurt that Eric finds someone else to fight with, giving Sarah insight as to why the other children were egging her on: It’s stimulating to watch the antics of adversaries. Shrewdly, with sharp characterizations, Carbone delivers a difficult lesson in an exciting tale. (Fiction. 8-12)