21 January 2001 THE SCHOOL STORY by Andrew Clements/Illustrated by Brian Selznick, Simon & Schuster, June 2001

THE SCHOOL STORY involves two 6th grade girls, Natalie (the great writer) and her best friend Zoe (the great talker). Natalie writes a novel that Zoe thinks is so great it should be published. Because Natalie's mom is an editor and Zoe's father is a lawyer, we are exposed to a real-world view of book publishing, as Zoe crafts and, with the help of their English teacher, carries out a scheme to get the book published without the parents of either girl knowing in advance that it was written by Natalie.

In the way that FRINDLE (also by Clements and Selznick) shows how a word can come into being, THE SCHOOL STORY does the same thing for children's books. The synergy which results from the very different personalities of Natalie and Zoe joining forces makes this a great story for discussing the meaning of friendship. I love that, in contrast to FRINDLE, it was Zoe, rather than the teacher, who was the real force in this great new book.

Richie Partington

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