Will Cody be able to hide his humiliating mistakes of the past from his peers in his new school? Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Despite its outlandish cover art and title, Birdseye's (The Eye of the Stone) down-to-earth novel presents the journal of a chatty fifth grader determined to change his image as he enters a new school. Cody, however, gets off to a rather rocky start: the day before school opens, a girl sees him in his underwear through an open dressing-room door as he tries on jeans. Though Amy who turns out to be a classmate doesn't share this incident with their peers, Cody's embarrassment triggers recurrent nightmares featuring underwear-related debacles. The boy's intermittently bumbling attempts to be the cool "New Me" rather than the goofy "Old Me" lead to some thought-provoking choices on Cody's part, some comically calamitous episodes and some poignant moments. For instance, after seeing the popular boys shooting hoops, Cody writes, "I would have played, too, if they'd have asked me. But it was starting to rain anyway again so I guess it didn't matter." The author hits a few shaky notes (e.g., Cody's disdain for cleaning his cat's litter box becomes tedious; his infatuation for Amy stretches credibility, as when he refers to himself as "Loverboy" in his journal). But many passages compensate for them including the way Cody couches his bungling of the talent show as a step-by-step formula for creating a "really good disaster." Ages 8-12. (Nov.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Gr. 3-6. Cody Carson has moved to a new town, and he is looking forward to a new start. No more embarrassing behavior, just triumphs. Written in diary form, this chronicles how Cody does. Pretty well as it turns out, rescuing a hamster, improving his grades, even running for class president. Of course, there are some down moments, including his effort to toilet train his cat (using the real toilet) and a misguided valentine for the first girl he likes. Birdseye uses the diary format to good advantage, showing in funny, first-person observations that boys have the same emotional ups and downs that girls do. And yes, there is much talk of stinking feet and passing gas. The attention-attracting title and the great cover (a crowd of children rushing away from hovering underwear), add to the sense of silly, middle-grade fun. IleneCooper. From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.