Grace ignores a new girl at school. That night her parents tell her they are moving. She becomes the new girl at school. Grace sees a tambourine on the shelf at school going to grab it the same time a boy grabs it. The teacher intervenes but Grace says she wants to do something quiet. The next day she and the boy share the tambourine and become friends.

I enjoyed this book. It shows how one day Grace ignores someone, not meaning to be mean, but because she was interested in the tambourine and didn't want to share. Grace understood only after becoming the new girl how the other girl felt. She learned how to make new friends and how sharing helps with that.

I liked the rhyming of the story. It was fun. The illustrations were good. This is good for early readers as well as toddlers.

Re-read update:  This book did not hold up well on re-read.  I had the same issue with the re-invention of the first book's history, and the rest of it, even though I didn't remember who the murderer was, I found extremely tedious and meandering.

Here's hoping the third book holds up better.

Update for second read:  Holds up to my first review perfectly; 7 years later and I still can't keep Maddie and Marty straight in my head.  Still a very good read.

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I put off reading this book for a long time because it just had way too redneck-y a vibe for me to think I'd find it enjoyable. But then I read about the author being a native Floridian (as I am) and I thought, well, I should give this a go, she should be able to do "old Florida" justice with out turning everyone into caricatures.

So I was pleased to find myself thoroughly involved in this book by about 1/3 of the way in. I had to struggle a bit to keep Marty and Maddie straight, but each character very much has their own personality and for the most part, they're colourful and likeable. Of course I love the Old Florida setting. 

The plot was well done; a lot of red herrings and suspects, a lot of clues. Very strong ending.

I'll be ordering the next books in the series, and I'm hoping for some more scenes of the chemistry sort between Carlos and Mace. :)