Wendy Mass hits it out of the park again with this middle-grade tale of a friendship and birthday gone horribly wrong. Amanda and Leo have been best friends almost since birth and have celebrated their birthdays together every year. However, at their tenth birthday party, Amanda overhears something Leo hoped she wouldn’t, and all at once their friendship is over. Now Amanda is facing down her 11th birthday party, the first she’s ever had on her own, with the knowledge that most of their classmates will be attending Leo’s much fancier bash to be held on the same night. It goes just as badly as she had feared – but nothing’s quite as bad as waking up the next morning to do it all over again. Amanda and Leo discover that they are stuck in a time loop, living the day of their 11th birthday over and over again. Why is this happening to them? How can they stop it? How many problems will they have to fix before they can return to normal life – and, when they do, will their friendship return as well? Mass answers these questions and more in this funny novel that proves that having a do-over isn’t necessarily a good thing.

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I love Wendy Mass’s books. She really is a master of voice. Her books always feel true to me – Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life is a personal favorite. I didn’t love Every Soul A Star, which is coming out this fall from Little, Brown, but I think it’s authentically written and I think that kids will like it more than I did. Her books are also good at tackling some touchy subjects without feeling like you’re being banged over the head with a message. The fantastical elements in this one are handled well, too – you feel like Mass is in on the joke. Of COURSE this can’t actually happen, but you feel like Amanda and Leo are right there rolling their eyes along with you at the ridiculousness of it all.

Also? GREAT cover. I love it.

Publisher: Scholastic

Pub date: January 2009