Andrea Cheng (1957–2015)

Fourth grader Anna Chang loves reading so much that she’s often caught with her nose in a book, whether that’s in the classroom, at recess, on the bus, or even when walking! But as the school year progresses from fall to spring, she learns that some of the best memories are made in the here and now, with family and friends by her side.

This is a sweet book about the everyday adventures of childhood, from creating a homemade Halloween costume to sewing lunch bags from donated fabric scraps to making paper airplanes and taking them for a spin. Although a few heavier topics come up (such as some casual racism and a divorce that is far from amicable), the book remains optimistic overall.

Anna and her family are endearing, as are the myriad of folks in their lives from a caring teacher to a chatty crossing guard to an elderly neighbors with a penchant for giving away things he's no longer using. I could easily see why readers would want to progress on to the rest of the series to spend more time with these characters.

There is a great deal of diversity in the book; Anna's family is of Chinese descent, with her mother being an immigrant; her mother is also a nontraditional college student; there is the friend whose parents are going through a divorce; there's use of wheelchairs for both temporary and permanent disabilities; and so on.

This book is perfect for fans of Beverly Cleary’s Ramona series, especially if readers are ready to move on to a slightly older protagonist but not quite ready for the darker "problem novel" titles that pepper middle grade literature.… (more)

4th grader Anna Wang is often reading a book. She likes them, but it's also an escape from complicated friendship dynamics. What I particularly like about this book is that Anna doesn't jump at befriending another girl when she gets the chance -- she takes her time and the friendship grows based on real connections. Her immigrant parents work very hard, but still make space for Laura (the new friend) to have a safe place to be as her parents separate and her father becomes threatening. There are lots of kind adults in Anna's life as well -- Mr. Shepherd, who struggles with asking for help getting in and out of his wheelchair since his wife passed away, Ray, the crossing guard, who checks in with her every day, Teacher Zhen at Chinese school and Ms. Simmons in her classroom. The book has a quiet energy to it -- many things happen day to day, and Anna reads many excellent books and altogether it's just a really nice book in itself. Like a slighly less zany Ramona with craft projects and reading.… (more)