Rebel McKenzie

Gr 4–7—As her name suggests, Rebel McKenzie does not like taking "no" for an answer. When her mom tells her she can't afford to send her to the Ice Age Kids' Dig, the 12-year-old plans to take a Greyhound to the summer camp. Unfortunately, she misses the bus and when a policeman returns her home her parents ground her for the rest of the summer. Her older sister, Lynette, saves Rebel by inviting her to move into the nearby "Grandview Estates" (a trailer park) and watch her seven-year-old nephew while Lynette attends beauty school. Rebel is still obsessed with making money and attending camp the following summer so she can fulfill her dream of becoming a paleontologist. She finds a friend in Lacey Jane and an enemy in beautiful and bossy Bambi. When Rebel learns that Bambi has recently won $500 in a beauty contest, she signs up for the Frog Level Volunteer Fire Department's beauty contest. After all, how hard can it be? Luckily, an elderly neighbor agrees to tutor Rebel and Lacey Jane in all things pageant related. Humorous southern euphemisms abound; Rebel's "Field Notebook" entries, beauty quizzes and articles, and cartoon panels are interspersed throughout. The story never gets weighed down by the many issues facing the characters. Rebel is a likable protagonist who certainly knows how to dream big, and this novel will make a fresh addition to summer reading lists.—Alison O'Reilly, Cutchogue New Suffolk Free Library, Cutchogue, NY