The Battle of Darcy Lane

Gr 5–7—Several battles are being waged on Darcy Lane this summer, all of which involve Julia Richards, a supersmart 12-year-old with a passion for reading and the clarinet. She persistently challenges her kind, but protective, parents for a bra, a cell phone, and a less babyish bedroom. She fiercely competes with new-girl-on-the-block Alyssa for the attention of maybe-best-friend Taylor. And she struggles mightily to make sense of who she is and who she might be. (On considering the unicorns and dolls that adorn her room: "I wanted to get rid of everything. The problem was this: I had nothing to put in its place.") Altebrando's clear, intelligent writing captures the sweet details that comprise Julia's everyday life: a fresh coat of paint for her bedroom, a brilliant band-camp concert, a slice of birthday cake shared compatibly with the boy next door. While the book's setting is never explicated, references to a historic cicada swarm plus talk of the "island," the "city," and the "ferry" likely place the story in 2013 and on Staten Island, the author's hometown. Frequent use of the cicada as a marker for nature and time ("I tried to think ahead, another seventeen years, to imagine what things would be like when the cicadas come back") feels a bit forced and may confuse readers unfamiliar with the phenomenon, but this is a slight misstep in an otherwise charming and authentic first purchase.—Susan Wengler, Saint Dominic Academy, Jersey City, NJ