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Shy, quiet Elizabeth likes whole-wheat doughnuts, but her best friend, Tara*Starr, likes custard ones with vanilla icing and multicolored sprinkles. When Tara*Starr pictures the two of them together as old ladies, Elizabeth is knitting, and she is sewing sequins and beads on everything! Despite their differences, the two seventh-grade girls are inseparable--until Tara*Starr moves away, spurring the warm, winning correspondence that scampers across the pages of Paula Danziger and Ann M. Martin's P.S. Longer Letter Later: A Novel in Letters. Elizabeth and Tara*Starr's junior high school world is one of corny jokes, words like "gazillion," and awkward moments (a New Year's Eve kiss happens at 12:08, and "it was sort of gross because the Chee-to in his mouth ended up in my mouth"), but it's also a world where both girls are dealing with their evolving--and sometimes derailing--families. Danziger (writing Tara*Starr's letters) and Martin (writing Elizabeth's letters) are friends in real life, and both have done a masterful job of creating the distinct, realistic, endearing voices of their characters; developing a profound, emotional, and ever-changing relationship between two young girls; and crafting a page- turning story to boot. Young readers--half-laughing, half with lump in throat--will "totally relate" to this feisty pair! (Ages 9 and older) --Karin Snelson
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