Uma Krishnaswami (Children's Literature)
Dream teacher Ms. Wurtz leaves a blank book for students to find in the Writer's Corner of the classroom. Find it they do, and a lively correspondence begins within its pages. Factions emerge soon enough, with Lizzy and Yoshiko striving for literature, and Luke ("rhymes with puke") and his buddies writing for the sole purpose of howling with laughter. The personalities come through sharp and etched in multiple alternating entries in the blank book. The many voices allow us to sense the peacemakers and the provocateurs, the self-absorbed and the anxious, and Milton the fact-hound who keeps trying to make serious sense out of all the verbal posturing. Amato has nicely captured the high-tension social hi-jinks of elementary school and crafted an amusing story in the context of a classroom focused on student inquiry. Eric Brace's funny spot drawings could induce the kind of laughter that makes teeth go flying out. This one is for the real teachers like Ms. Wurtz in whose classrooms, tests notwithstanding, students trade notebook entries, are permitted to generate conflict on the page, and get to resolve it in real life. This book is not only fun to read, it could spark weeks of interactive reading and writing in an elementary classroom. 2007, Holiday House, $16.95. Ages 7 to 10.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, November 15, 2006 (Vol. 74, No. 22))
When a teacher leaves an enticingly blank book in a corner, it becomes a record of classroom rivalries, diplomacy and growth in this deceptively lighthearted offering from the creator of the Riot Brothers. In a variety of handwritten-style entries festooned with childlike drawings, bossy Lizzy and brash Luke (“rhymes with puke”) go head-to-head as animal-loving Keesha, meek Yoshiko, budding engineer Milton and others chime in. Slowly, the gross-out remarks, outraged responses, pleas for amity, wild tall tales, authentically lame verse and sycophantic comments take on a different character. By the end, everyone—even initially aliterate Jimmy—is on the same page, enthusiastically taking turns contributing to a collectively composed story about rescuing the teacher from alien kidnappers. Along with warming the cockles of any educator’s heart, this record of successful class dynamics will draw reluctant readers with its funny dialogue and please fans of Kate Klise’s illustrated romps. 2006, Holiday House, 104p, $16.95. Category: Fiction. Ages 9 to 11. © 2006 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Hope Morrison (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, March 2007 (Vol. 60, No. 7))
Hello, boys and girls, you have found this book! I hid it in the Writer’s Corner, hoping you would. During Center Time, you can come to the Writer’s Corner and write in this journal. Write about anything you want.” These opening lines deliver both the premise of the story and what will eventually become the central conflict of this comic and clever read. It doesn’t take the students of Ms. Wurtz’s elementary-school classroom long to discover the blank notebook; soon they are writing back and forth to one another in praise (“A message to Lizzy from Yoshi . . . I love your poem. And your picture. You are sooo talented”) and in putdown (such as Luke’s suggestion that Lizzy has smelly feet). What quickly arises is a battle of the sexes, wherein the boys write gross things and draw nasty pictures and the girls come back with rules (“New rule by Lizzy: You may draw pictures as long as they are nice!”) and doodles of rainbows and bunny rabbits. Throw into the stew a few supporting roles (Carmen, who is always worried about getting in trouble; Milton, who really wishes the class would just write facts and who doodles to scale; Keesha, who is obsessed with horses), and you’ve got a brilliant cast of easily identifiable grade-school archetypes and heaps of humor all delivered in this inviting, seemingly handwritten format. The central tension is between bossy, smart Lizzy and Luke, who uses the pages of the journal to compose short works of fiction that offend half the readers and delight the rest; eventually the students overcome their conflicts and work together to write one big story. Amato never strays from the journal format, getting maximum story for modest helpings of text and thus making this perfect for novice readers. Brace’s comic sketches, sprinkled throughout the pages as if doodled by the students, successfully match the persona of each writer and contribute greatly to the realistic journal feel of the volume. This would adapt well to a reader’s theater piece, and it will certainly offer boundless entertainment to the many solo readers who are lucky enough to find it. Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2006, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2006, Holiday House, 97p., $16.95. Grades 2-5.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Spring 2007)
Challenged to collectively fill a notebook with anything they choose, Ms. Wurtz's students happily enter poems, drawings, and stories both factual and made-up, until they begin arguing about the notebook's rules. Presented as rotating entries with varied handwriting and funky black-and-white illustrations, the notebook highlights each student's personality as the classmates debate the rules and finally learn to work together. Category: Younger Fiction. 2006, Holiday, 97pp, 16.95. Ages 5 to 9. Rating: 3: Recommended, satisfactory in style, content, and/or illustration.