Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Keeping Cool
The Callahan Cousins, No. 3

by Elizabeth Doyle Carey



      I loved series fiction when I was a young girl - especially girl series fiction. The Callahan Cousins series takes me right back to those days and these books are just as warm and cozy as the ones I remember. In The Callahan Cousins series, four pre-teen cousins are spending an adventurous summer together on Gull Island with their grandmother. There's Phoebe, the smart one, Hillary, the athlete, Neeve, the daring world-traveler, and Kate, the girl who loves hearth and home. In this particular book, homebody Kate decides it's time for a make-over. She wants to be stylish, bold, clever, and cool like her three cousins so she enlists their aid in the makeover. She soon learns that it's hard work trying to be someone you're not, and the search for coolness doesn't guarantee friends and happiness. Sure, the themes are a teensy bit didactic and the grandmother is not above a life-changing lecture or two, but the charm of the characters makes you love them. This is a great book for moms to share with their daughters as it has all the charm of the series books of the past with a feel that's very contemporary (iPods and all). I found it delightful.

The Book

Little, Brown and Company
March 2006
Hardcover
0316736937
Series Fiction - Children / Ages 9 - 12
More at Amazon.com
Excerpt
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The Reviewer

Jan Fields
Reviewed 2006
NOTE: Reviewer Jan Fields is the editor of Kid Magazine Writers emagazine and has written dozens of stories and articles for the children's magazine market.
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