The adventures of Allie and Amy: The Best Friend Plan by Stephanie Calmenson and Joanna Cole, illustrated by James Burks

Amy (white) and Allie (black) are best friends. They're excited for a summer together and have a list of things to do, including visiting a fortune-teller (their next-door neighbor) and the street fair. They've barely gotten started on their plans when Allie's parents tell her the big news - a spot has opened up in Camp Merry Moose! Allie was excited to go before she and Amy made plans, but now what will they do? They try some silly plans and finally decide to make it through their whole summer list in two days. Along the way, they keep bumping into the annoying Marvin Lopez and have several fun and silly adventures until it's time to say goodbye.

Luckily, things turn out well and soon the two are off to camp together, along with annoying Marvin, and waiting for new best friend adventures.

Large type, with proper names and other words highlighted in bold, makes this a very accessible beginning chapter book. Black and white cartoons spot the pages and there's a nice buzz of action and excitement in the book. However, there's nothing that really holds it up - the plot is brief and trite, the characters interchangeable, and everything happens so fast there's no time for any plot point or for any interest in the story to really build.

Verdict: An additional purchase if you have need of a huge variety of beginning chapters, but I think most people will be better off with Scholastic's Branches and Acorn titles.

ISBN: 9781534452510; Published January 2020 by Aladdin; Borrowed from another library in my consortium