Fifth-grader Lucy Tanaka's attempt to surprise a classmate with a kind gesture goes wrong.Following Chloe on the Bright Side (2016), this second episode in Sheinmel's Kindness Club series stars designer-to-be Lucy Tanaka, who worries that her bond with friends Chloe Silver and Theo Barnes (both are white) will weaken if they aren't always engaged in the acts of kindness their club stands for. Her latest idea is a surprise birthday party for classmate Serena Kappas at the Tanaka family's bowling alley. Serena's mother has just died. Mixed-race Lucy knows something about being motherless; her Afro-Japanese-American mother died when she was only 1, but it still makes her sad sometimes. But she's sure a bowling party will make Serena's day memorable. When it turns out that Lucy's Japanese-American father, distracted by his failing business, hadn't agreed and wasn't in a position to supply a party, and worse, that Serena didn't want it, Lucy feels horrible. Instead of making people happy, she made people sad. The author allows the complications to build slowly as she develops her title character and demonstrates the ins and outs of fifth-grade friendship. Lucy's first-person narration reveals her wonderful creativity, her emotional fragility, and her generous but impulsive nature, which doesn't always stop for second thoughts. Readers caught up in her worldview will applaud the resolution. A leisurely character study with a useful lesson. (Fiction. 8-11)

Gr 3-5The Kindness Club is back with a second installment. With the club's origins establishedChloe, Theo, and Lucy developed the club as a class experiment and it stuckthe sequel is free to explore the more complex emotions surrounding loss, friendship, and the social dynamics of fifth grade. Sheinmel's ability to embody the tween perspective shines in the recklessly energetic Lucy as she attempts to create the perfect birthday experience for a classmate who has just lost her mother. Similar to the first book, this is a fast-paced, light read with lots of lessons peppered throughout, though Sheinmel keeps the narrative from tipping to patronizing. Ultimately, Lucy and her friends live up to their mission and are able to help their classmate in a way that is sensitive, appropriate, and, of course, kind. This is an excellent entry to the series, even if readers haven't read the first installment. Though the resolution is improbably rosy, the positivity of the narrative is a great selling point and many libraries will appreciate having this series available for tweens dealing with bullying, feelings of isolation, and friendship feuds. VERDICT An optimistic choice; recommended as a general purchase for medium to large collections.Taylor Worley, Springfield Public Library, OR