Mary Frances, 13, is enraged when her older sister tells her to ``grow up'' and stop wearing sloppy, boyish clothes. When the library stops showing movies due to lack of funds, Mary Frances comes up with a plan to help the library and prove her maturity: a runathon. She almost gives up her project when the local paper runs a front-page story about it but calls her a boy named ``Frankie.'' Although Mary Frances breaks her leg at the start of the runathon, it's a success. And while she recuperates, she learns that dressing to look like a girl isn't half-bad, either. Ryan's frequently hilarious narrative pinpoints the conflicting feelings of a teen who isn't altogether convinced that adolescence is better than childhood. Ages 8-12. (April) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Gr 6-8 Mary Frances Courtney is going through a host of problems. She is uncertain about her looks, uncertain about her family, and uncertain about her relationship with her best friend, Jeanine. Jeanine has a crush on the school's star athlete and drags Mary Frances along to places where he might be seen. At one such hangout, Mary Frances meets the new boy in town. If Mary Frances is uncertain of her feelings for boys, she is certain that the library must get money to continue showing the Saturday Disney movies that her little brother enjoys. She decides to organize a run to earn money for the library. A hole in the street causes her to break her leg at the start of the race, but she gains self-confidence, notoriety, and a boyfriend by the novel's end. Parts of this book seem cut out of the teen romance cloth, but Mary Frances is an appealing central character: awkward and uncertain, but at the same time funny and feisty. Ryan does a good job of portraying the relationships in Mary Frances' large family. Her parents sometimes lose her in the shuffle, but come through for her in the end. It adds up to a package that, despite its flaws, has a lightness that should find an audience. Todd Morning, Schaumburg Township Public Library, Ill. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Gr. 5-7. At 13, Mary Frances Courtney is determinedly not boy crazy; on the other hand, she does have a nice time talking with new boy Bruce Herrman at the Castello pizza parlor while her best friend, boy-crazed Jeanine, concentrates on winning the heart of hunk Jason Kirchfield. In the meantime, Mary Frances becomes the organizer of a fund-raising project to aid the public library, which has announced the cancellation of its children's film programs for lack of money. The fund-raiser, a marathon run with pledge money to back it, is Mary Frances' brainchild, and the enterprise turns out to be quite a success but not before newspaper publicity mistakenly labels Mary Frances a boy. The gaffe mortifies her but also makes her think about her image. Of course, thoughts of Bruce Herrman figure in as well. Despite Mary Frances' resolve not to lose her head over a boy, she slowly realizes that she does like Bruce and that this is OK. But communicating is hard, and not until she hears that he thinks she is a snob does she manage a face-to-face conversation with him one that doesn't end with her abruptly cutting him off. Ryan has caught the foibles of being 13 nicely: Mary Frances' awkwardness is displayed without making her a buffoon, and the finish, which sees a nice boy-girl friendship/romance developing, is not overdone. A credible, humorous popular read. DMW. Identity Fiction [CIP] 86-20114