Mackenzie Blue
Grade 4-7&ndash;As in many other books for this audience, the protagonist's best friend moves away; she makes a quirky new friend or two; a mean girl is the nemesis; and diary entries, lists, and IMing cut through the text. Throw in comic-book art with big-eyed characters and you haveMackenzie Blue. Zee is starting seventh grade in Brookdale Academy with Jasper, an awkward Brit she befriended that summer. She is a guitar player who is looking forward toTeen Sing, a national contest that offers its winner a recording contract. Auditions will take place in her school's auditorium. Zee enters instrumental class expecting a famous classical teacher and finds Mr. P., a nervous rock enthusiast. Kathi, the mean girl, is mean to him. Chloe, a girl from the South who plays cello, becomes perky friend number two. So why, when Zee's diary is lost, does she suspect her friends and not Kathi? With its pop credentials, the book will have some appeal to tweens, but it's nothing special.&ndash;Tina Zubak, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, PACopyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.