To say Christa Vasile loves Christmas is an understatement.She always sets the Best Christmas Plan Ever into motion on Nov. 1, with the goal of outdoing the previous year's celebration. This year's excellence has already surpassed the others, as Christa and her parents will be going to Europe. But then her parents drop the bad news: they're getting a divorce, and the "coppery"-skinned 13-year-old with "crazy-thick hair" and "eyes that crinkle up in the corners" (but no named race) and her similar-looking mother will go to Europe for some "mother-daughter time." Christa's actress mother will perform in venues throughout their trip, which means Christa has to join the "kid portion of [the] tour" with the other actors' children: hyperexuberant Kylie, artist Sasha, Harry Potter superfan Owen, spiky-haired Logan, and cute hipster Colby. (Sasha is Asian; the rest appear to be white.) After Christa spies her mother making out with Kylie's father, her hopes for a parental reunion go out like a candle in the wind. However, a surprise from her father lifts Christa's spirits. He's continuing their holiday scavenger hunt tradition with one dare for each of the 12 days of Christmas. The tasks encourage Christa to allow the unexpected to lead her to new and exciting places. Her first-person present-tense narration carries the story, and Burt does an excellent job of bringing the magic of Europe to life on the page. A sweet story about letting go and allowing life to lead the way. (Fiction. 10-13)

Gr 5-8Thirteen-year-old Christa's plans for her cherished Christmas traditions are upended by her parents' upcoming divorce. She spends the Christmas season with her actress mother, who is performing in a production that's traveling through Europe; her father, a travel agent, remains at home in Chicago. After the initial, traumatic announcement of Christa's parents' separation, the story skips forward five weeks and then slows down again to detail Christa's journey. She spends most of the trip to Florence, Paris, and London on a heavily scheduled guided tour with the other children of troupe members. The famous tourist sites they visit are depicted in glorious detail, and the other characters' full personalities emerge as the kids develop into a close-knit group. A package from Christa's father contains a dare, the first of the titular 12, each of which leads her to a specific landmark. Over the course of the voyage, Christa's relationship with her mother becomes more contentious and distant, partly because of Christa's unhappiness with her family situation. The protagonist has obsessive concerns about possible food allergies and deals with anxiety in general, but the exact cause of these issues is not fully explained. Christa's father addresses her anxiety by urging her to be more daring, and her mother, a rather one-dimensional character, complains that Christa is a drama queen. In addition to coping with family problems, the protagonist experiences a sweet, if predictable, romance. VERDICT Burt departs from her earlier fantasy novels in this realistic fiction title that is likely to appeal to travel and theater buffs.Judy Poyer, Odenton Regional Library, MD

Blindsided by the news that her parents have signed divorce papers, 13-year-old Christa particularly regrets the changes in her family's Christmas plans. Now she'll be joining Mom, an actress, on her theater company's European tour, while Dad stays home. He surprises Christa with "the 12 Dares of Christmas," a series of messages and gifts that she receives in Florence, Paris, and London. She and five other actors' kids visit famous sights and work on the "dares," which often challenge Christa to step outside her comfort zone. Struggling to cope with divorce, phobias, travel, her parents' lack of transparency, her reawakening love of art, her mother's apparent attraction to a fellow actor, and a tentative first romance of her own, Christa has a great deal to mull over in the first-person narrative. While the trip provides a structure for the story, this many-faceted problem novel is a bit unfocused, and Christa's personal growth sometimes seems too easily achieved. Still, drawn by some engaging scenes and dialogue, certain tweens will enjoy her European tour.