Our Sixth-Grade Sugar Babies

When A Gorgeous Seventh-grade Boy Moves Across The Street, Vicki Is Ecstatic-until She Remembers Her Latest School Assignment. For One Week, Vicki And The Rest Of Her Sixth-grade Class Have To Pretend They're Parents And Carry Around Five-pound Bags Of Sugar Dressed In Baby Clothes. And If He Sees Her Carrying Around A Silly-looking Sugar Baby, Vicki Is Sure She'll Die Of Embarrassment.

then One Day The Worst Happens. Vicki Has To Ditch Her Baby Before Her Hunky Neighbor Sees It-and The Baby Disappears. Now Vicki Is Frantic. What Has Happened To Her Poor Sugar Baby? And What Will This Do To Her Grade? There's Only One Thing To Do-and That's To Find Out Where The Baby Is, Before An Already Sticky Situation Turns Into An Even Bigger Mess!

school Library Journal

mrs. Oda Challenges Her Sixth Graders With A Demanding Proposition: Each Will Assume Full Parental Responsibility During An Entire Week For A Baby--a 5lb. Sack Of Sugar Baby. Vicki Vows To Be The Best Parent In The Class And Not To Cheat In Caring For Her ``babe.'' She Soon Learns, However, That Responsibility Affects, And Is Affected By, Many Circumstances. Two Neighbors, Senile Mr. Ambrose And A Seventh-grade ``terrific Hunk'' Who Has Just Moved In Across The Street, Create Unanticipated Dilemmas For Vicki. The Boy's Charm Causes Her To Temporarily Abandon Babe To Mr. Ambrose's Vacant Gaze. When Both Babe And Mr. Ambrose Disappear, Vicki Churns With Guilt And The Desire To Cover Up Her Indiscretion. Finally She Confesses Everything To Her Mother And Faces Up To The Necessity Of Also Telling Her Teacher And Classmates. The Plot Elements Conclude Happily, And Mrs. Oda Declares Vicki Honest And Courageous. The First-person Narrative Conveys An Appropriate Sixth-grade Perspective And Adroit Sketches Of Vicki And Her Friends. Her Mother Is Well Realized, A Single Working Parent Whose Response To Her Daughter Is Sympathetic And Supportive, Yet Astute In Helping Vicki Deal With Her Actions And Their Consequences. An Absorbing And Believable Story That Will Set Readers Thinking. --katharine Bruner, Brown Middle School, Harrison, Tn