Reviews: (by author)

Phyllis Reyolds Naylor. A Spy Among the Girls. New York: Delacorte, 2000. 134 pp. ISBN 0-385-32336-0. $15.95

This is the sixth book in the series about the four Hatford boys and the three Malloy girls who live in a little town in West Virginia. I have not read the previous five, and have no intention to. This "naughty-boy-naughty-girl" book is mind-numbing, humorless, colorless, and in parts plain silly. Innocent pranks and superficial, predictable relationships fill the pages. There is not one single engaging character, not one single situation that would give rise to contemplation. Like a bit of chewing gum, to be used and spit out.

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor has received the Newbery Medal for Shiloh in 1992. Apart from that, she has written over a hundred books for children, which always makes me suspicious. At such a pace, books can never be anything but mediocre. A Spy Among the Girls is a good illustration.

Reviewed by Maria Nikolajeva

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