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"Look, everybody, Sarah wet her pants!" He shouted it like he was Paul Revere or something.I could feel my face flush hot pink. "Shut up, you creep!" I was so mad! I wanted to shove his head into a pothole.
Sarah's first few days of fifth grade aren't going too well. She manages to run down the little brother of school bully Eric Bardo with her bicycle; she lies to the friend she likes the best; she "borrows" a basketball from her teacher's private supply cabinet to prove herself to her new schoolmates; and, with all her childish acts of revenge against Eric (including inserting wriggling larvae into his sandwich), manages to spend a large chunk of her lunches and recesses in detention. In the process, she is chastised by her new teacher--and her parents, who deliver the "Staying Out of Trouble at School" as well as the "Walking Away from Conflict" lecture. Perhaps worst of all, she gets the cold shoulder from her new friend Christina Perez, who doesn't appreciate her lies, or her "eye for an eye" attitude towards her tiresomely taunting tormentor.
Sarah is no angel--she's flip and sarcastic, none too sensitive, and her logic is certainly skewed. (Not getting caught is equivalent to staying out of trouble, for example.) Still, thanks to wiser souls around her--including her teenage brother and her new best friend--she learns many valuable lessons about friendship, loyalty, and how to diffuse, and thereby dissolve, the continued attacks of bullies. Elisa Carbone--creator of Corey's Story: Her Family's Secret--has a knack for using a light hand to help young people cope with dilemmas as they grow up. Starting School with an Enemy is a funny, spirited collection of wisdom (and comic relief) for any kid who's ever been teased. (Ages 9 to 12) --Karin Snelson
From Publishers Weekly
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
