Leap Day

March 1, 2004
Gr 7-9-Today is Josie's 16th birthday, but because it is February 29th, it's really only her 4th "official" birthday. She wears her "The Few, The Proud, The Leapers" T-shirt and checks in with many of her e-mail leapmates from around the country. Her family and friends make a big deal of her "last" teenage birthday. In the meantime, Josie has a lot on her mind, including the tryouts for Romeo and Juliet, her driver's test, and, of course, hunky Grant Brawner. Josie's first-person narration, laced with touches of humor, is reminiscent of Alice's in Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's series (Atheneum), but Mass finds a special depth by augmenting Josie's chapters with third-person accounts of many of the same scenes in which readers learn what the teen's friends, family, and teachers are thinking and doing. Some of them are as superficial as Josie perceives, but most have complex stories and secrets far beyond what she could ever imagine. Mass also uses these chapters to comment on the characters' futures, such as the abusive and alcoholic father of a friend who readers are told will one day cause an accident, paralyze a motorcyclist, and never drink again. The style is unusual and interesting, but a little cluttered and slows down the plot. However, Josie remains spunky and good-hearted throughout the eventful day, and most of the other characters' situations are somewhat resolved. Despite the uneven tone, this is a good read.-Paula J. LaRue, Van Wert City Schools, OH

Copyright 2004 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2004
Gr. 8-12. Josie Taylor is celebrating her "fourth birthday" by taking her drivers test! That's just one of the activities this leap-year baby has scheduled for her sixteenth birthday, along with play auditions, the annual sophomore scavenger hunt with her three best friends, and summer dreams of becoming Snow White at Disney World. Chapters reveal the thoughts and sometimes the futures of the people Wendy encounters during the 12 hours in which this story takes place, including the news that her out-of-work CPA father is covertly training for Disney guest relations and one of her friends has a secret. This is a fairly typical story, albeit one that is competently told; give it to readers looking for a follow-up to Ann Brashares' " The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" (2001).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2004
This engaging coming-of-age novel follows Josie on her sixteenth birthday. Each chapter is split: the first half is narrated by Josie while the other half, covering the same time period, dips into the thoughts of each person she interacts with. Mass's novel humorously highlights the potentially life-altering results of our most fleeting daily interactions.

(Copyright 2004 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)