Odd little book. I mean, perfectly normal friendship story for grades 3-5, by a relatively popular author, with humor and a few pictures, but no reviews here, and the copy I found at a thrift store was near mint. I think where it fails is that we don't really get to know the characters - they fill roles to make the author's points, and that's about it.

For example: Apparently Walter is a neat kid that we're supposed to feel friendly to based on other books in the series, but here's he's just a little science nerd who's feeling left out because a baby sister is due any day now. And of course, when Gabrielle does come home, who is the only one who can soothe her? That's right, big brother Walter, of course.

And really, that side story was much more engaging than the main story, what with everyone always interrupting Casey instead of listening to her ask for help, and Tracy being self-centered & clueless, oh but that's ok because she's a slow reader so we should feel sorry for her.

Ok, enough. Gosh I write long reviews for books I don't care for. Justifying my opinion, I guess. ( )