School of Charm

Gr 4–6—After her father's death, Chip, her sisters, and their mother move from New York to North Carolina to live with their grandmother. Chip, a tomboy, enjoys being outside, getting close to nature, and is unafraid of getting dirty. The transition to life in North Carolina is made more difficult by Grandma's expectations, her formal home filled with taxidermy, and an apparent dislike of the protagonist. Grandma, who was crowned Miss North Carolina 1939, would like to continue the beauty pageant tradition, a notion embraced by Chip's sisters. Family relationships are further compounded by an unwillingness to talk about the shared loss of their much-loved father. During one of Chip's outdoor explorations she discovers Miss Vernie's School of Charm. At this unique, almost enchanted charm school, "free to those who need it," the narrator meets two girls, Dana and Karen. Like Chip, they are unhappy but reluctant to share their feelings. Everyone, it seems, has a secret. Told in the first person, Chip's voice is generally authentic, though she grasps adult insights a bit too readily. References to the 1970s provide a pre-Internet era in which the characters develop and grow. Though the conclusion is a bit pat, the process of grieving and change is handled realistically in this satisfying novel.—Maria B. Salvadore, formerly at District of Columbia Public Library