Libbie Sims, Worry Wart: 9

Eleven-year-old Libbie Sims has a lot of worries. What if her mother remarries Russell, her snobby first husband? What if her best friend, Gretchen, finds a new best friend? What if Amber, the new girl in school, has moved to Libbie's town because her father was hurting her mother? Libbie has energy and imagination, and middle readers will identify with her anxieties as well as her desires. First-novelist Lockwood offers a sympathetic look at the confusion engendered by separation, divorce and remarriage, but she overburdens her story with more themes than she can handle--issues related to friendship, sibling relationships, adolescence and puberty are addressed only superficially. Ages 8-12. (Oct.)