Mae and June and the Wonder Wheel by Charise Mericle Harper

June is a quirky, happy-go-lucky girl who has one big plan - make a new friend who is Fun, Friendly, and will go on Fun Adventures. And believe that she can talk to her dog Sammy. When Mae moves in next door, June has high hopes of a new best friend, especially when June's grandmother sends her the Wonder Wheel with lots of fun activities and suggestions for making friends.

But things don't go quite the way June had expected, especially when it looks like Mae is going to be friends with mean girl April at school. Will the Wonder Wheel come through for June?

Spires' perky illustrations show two exuberant, imaginative girls and their family, friends, and enemies having fun in every day adventures.

This was cute and quirky and will easily join a long line of other female friendship books for this age group. I did have one quibble though - why is the girl with darker skin the friend? Why not the protagonist? While I am seeing more and more kids of color in children's books, it frustrates me that they are always relegated to sidekick status. Hopefully future titles in this series will bring Mae to the forefront - her name comes first after all - and let us hear from her directly, rather than have her feelings and thoughts interpreted to the reader through the lens of her white friend.

Verdict: A cross between Ivy + Bean and Dory Fantasmagory, this is sure to find happy readers in any library looking for more intermediate chapter books.

ISBN: 9780544630635; Published 2017 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Borrowed from another library in my consortium