Marty McGuire

Marty was told that the third grade would be amazing. It was promised that in third grade you would get to read longer books and be in the school play. What Marty didn't anticipate, though, was loosing her best friend Annie to the princess-loving Veronica Grace. Now Marty, who just doesn't like all of this girly dress-up play, doesn't have anyone to hunt for frogs or pretend to be Jane Goodall with. Things get even stranger when Marty is cast as the princess her her class' performance of The Frog Prince. Marty is sure that there has been a huge mistake. But as practice for the play gets underway, she learns a little something about improvisation and develops an idea to make the play a little more interesting.

There are an awful lot of books out there that focus on princesses. And while it's true that many of these books feature strong, smart princesses, it was kind of nice to see a different kind of character in Kate Messner's Marty McGuire: the precocious tomboy. Marty really just doesn't like being prissy and girly. She doesn't go on to discover her "inner princess" or anything like that as the story progresses. Instead, what Marty learns is that it's good to try new things even if they make her a bit uncomfortable at first. What's especially interesting about this book's take on the issue is that there's not really a strong pro- or anti-princess message. Even though she is reluctant, Marty gives the role of princess a try. There are other characters like Annie who manage to straddle the two sides, and in the end even prissy Veronica Grace is set up to be Marty's friend as they go off to play Jane Goodall while wearing tiaras.

To be honest, the plot of this book was a tad predictable to me. I've been around the easy chapter book block a few times and could pretty much see where this book was headed from the beginning. But for the average kid reading this book (or even the average adult), the predictability will not be a problem. The writing is solid and the characters extremely likable. Illustrations by Brian Floca add the perfect level of detail. This book is great fun.

Overall Grade: A