Grade 4-7–Lady Catrain must defend Queen Alynna from the evil Lord Valdyk. This does not sound insanely real, does it? In fact, it is the journal writing of feisty 12-year-old Cassie, who finds solace in writing fantasy that parallels her personal experiences. Her single mom works long hours to support the family; Miranda, 15, is often irresponsible and sometimes angry. Cassie takes a lot of responsibility at home, particularly regarding six-year-old Jackson, who is in need of attention. The bane of Cassie's life is her sarcastic English teacher. She mistakenly comes to believe that her teacher only counts the number of pages in their journals, ignoring the contents, and begins writing a series of very funny and definitely hostile journal entries musing on such deep topics as rubber bands and converting fractions into percents. After her best friends drop her due to the lessening of her family's social status, Cassie reluctantly befriends overweight outcast Bess, who shares her love of fantasy fiction. The characters and their interactions are effectively delineated. Cassie realistically struggles with insecurity, rudeness, and impossible expectations from those around her. Every...