Danziger's irrepressible heroine feels torn between her future stepdad (who is there when she needs him) and her absentee father (who now wants custody). Two bookmarks of Amber in distress come with each copy. Ages 7-10. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Gr. 2^-4. In the latest chapter book about Amber Brown, she is going through a growth spurt and is enjoying fourth grade, but her divorced parents are behaving like children in their telephone battles about their joint custody of her. She hates feeling split between them. She also hates, hates, hates her new haircut. She likes her mother's fiance, but she worries about her loyalty to her dad, who is coming back from Europe to live near her. The first-person, present-tense narrative gets exactly right the fourth-grader's mix of feelings, her focus on the trivial, the gross, and the essential. Readers will welcome the combination of farce and tenderness, the honesty about anger and hurt and love. --Hazel Rochman

In this fifth book about the spunky and sophisticated Amber, Amber's father returns from France; her parents' immature, although realistic, bickering escalates; and Amber continues to get used to her mother's fiancé, Max. The plot is predictable and less fresh than in the earlier books, but still believable and quite contemporary. Black-and-white drawings are included. From HORN BOOK 1997, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Gr 2-4‘While a sequel is often weaker than the original, this book is stronger than its predecessors. After her parents' divorce and a variety of other changes, Amber Brown wishes something, if only her growing body, could stay the same. But nothing does. She has a new best friend, Brandi, with whom she becomes stranded on a school bus because their school has been invaded by a skunk family. Max, her mother's fiancé, rescues them and takes them for a fun day at the mall. While Amber is still reluctant to see him as a future stepfather, she does reflect on how he is there when she needs him, unlike her father, who has been living in France. Things change again when he decides to return to New Jersey and seek joint custody of his daughter. Her parents begin fighting long distance, upsetting Amber until she "sees red." Ross's black-and-white cartoons help convey the character's feelings. Real emotion is mixed with comic relief, creating colorful characters in a lively story that will attract new fans and old ones alike.‘Jackie Hechtkopf, Talent House School, Fairfax, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.