Daddy's Not-So-Little Girl

Summary Stephanie can't go on an overnight camping trip with her class because of her illness unless her dad comes along as a chaperone. He embarrasses her quite a bit, and a troublesome girl named Mia causes more problems.

Review By: Doug Fowler Rating 8.5 / 10 On the one level, it's like the usual story of a girl who is embrrassed by her dad. The characters are very lifelike, and feelings are well expressed, but I like to see more Full House characters in my books than just Stephanie and Danny, who are the only ones in 80% of the book, it seems. On the other hand, as I say, they are very in character and well done, and little things push this up from a 7 or 7.5 to an 8.5. For instance, Michelle stuffing Mr. Bear - who goes by the alias of Teddy to give the writer one more original character, though from the description we all know who this is :-) - into Stephanie's sleeping bag when she'd not looking. Stephanie and Mia (whose mom is also divorced, and who reminds me enough of Gia that I think this is how things would go if they went to different middle schools), and how they learn to co-operate. The humor of the things Mia brings on their hike, like the huge stereo. I think this is a really good book for teens to understand their parents, and vice versa perhaps, as the feelings are very well brought out, as I say. Could be 9, and I wouldn't even quibble if you called it a 10. Maybe if I had teens - or any kids - I would, too.