Anna Fincher is a third-grader who has been transplanted from sunny Rosendale, New York, to gray Chicago after her mother accepts a new job in the city. She misses the true-blue friends she was forced to leave behind, as well as the garden she used to tend. A class assignment and a run-down urban allotment provide Anna with the opportunity to address both of these needs. This first installment in the Friendship Garden series has the right amount of middle-grade social concern, mixed with serendipitous problem solving, to provide an enjoyable reading experience. The loss of friends and how to replace them is a universal worry, and readers will empathize with Anna's plight. The grown-ups in the book are peripheral enough that Anna and her friends can make some well-meaning blunders, yet close enough to ensure that nothing goes terribly awry. The illustrations complement the text and give definition to characters, who are a bit standard at first but have plenty of room to grow.

Gr 2-4 When Anna moves into a new town, she has a hard time making friends. When a group project for school ends up helping her hit it off with two other people, things start to look up for Anna. Together, the trio comes upon a community garden. The garden looks more like a plant junkyard. The friends get an idea to start a kids garden club, but the president of the garden says they need an adult to supervise. Can they persuade an adult to help them out? This well-written book adeptly ties the multiple, but simple subplots together. The characters are likable and fairly well developed. The author's use of clever chapter headings and descriptive words draw readers easily into Anna's world. VERDICT Similar to Megan McDonalds's "Judy Moody" series (Candlewick) and Laurie Friedman's "Mallory" books (Lerner), this book will appeal to readers who enjoy humorous realistic fiction. Kira Moody, Whitmore Public Library, Salt Lake City, UT