I'd Rather Have an Iguana

In Mario's (You Don't Always Get What You Hope For) familiar story, the girl narrator would prefer an iguana to her new baby brother. She is not amused by his ""alien"" looks, his commandeering of her former crib or his stinky diaper pail. She misses the time her mother would spend exclusively with her and prefers to play with her buddy Jason Rivera, who has ""a swing set and a dog named Taco and six video games and NO BABY."" Mario's stereotypical secondary characters sometimes detract from the realistic situations presented in the text, but the narrator is a sympathetic leading player, doing her best to remind her parents that she matters, too. Any overblown scenes are redeemed by the closing shots of a sister warming to her new sibling. All ages. (Feb.)