ANDY SHANE AND THE VERY BOSSY DOLORES STARBUCKLE

Andy Shane doesn’t want to be at school. He doesn’t want to sit straight at the rug or share at morning meeting. How much more fun would it be to be home with Granny Webb where they could catch and name various bugs—using Latin, no less. It’s bad enough that Andy Shane has to be in school, but spending his day with a show-off tattletale like Dolores Starbuckle makes his day seem endless. As the self-appointed assistant teacher, she is a little spy among kindergartners, pointing out the slouchy sitter, math materials messer-upper and anyone who visits a learning center on the wrong day. But Granny Webb is not having any of Andy’s school ennui; her patented Granny Webb Stare moves him right onto the bus and into school. However, Granny Webb would never abandon her little boy. A surprise school visit teaches Andy something about sticking up for himself and using every resource—even the Stare—to solve a problem. Open, humorous sketches are just the right touch for this hilarious, pitch-perfect school story. Readers will want to follow Andy all the way through school. (Fiction. 5-8)