The Broken Bike Boy and the Queen of 33rd Street (review)

Queen takes her name very seriously, treating the world as though they were her subjects and expecting royal treatment in return, which does not go over well with her schoolmates or her mother (who "didn't like how grown-up and stuck-up I was acting. Only, I can't help it if I'm cute and smarter than most kids my age"). Queen's attention-getting tendencies meet their match in her new classmate Leroy, who smells terrible and who tells tremendous lies about where he comes from—or so Queen thinks. When Queen decides to follow Leroy home to uncover the truth, she meets Cornelius, Leroy's older neighbor and co-conspirator in creating truth, and she learns a major lesson in the importance of treating others kindly as well as recognizing the different forms that truth can take. This latest novel from the author of Bang! (BCCB 12/05) maintains the strong characterizations and dialogue of her previous works. The storyline is somewhat fragmented, however, and the fact vs. fantasy issue ends up confusingly blurring the categories rather than creatively interpreting them. Still, Queen is pretty amusing if you don't have to live with her, and Flake fans will no doubt want to delve into this latest offering. Reviewed from an unillustrated galley.