Tara is also a recovering full-time RVer (2.5 years all over North America) and a decade before that, a round-the-world honeymooner (2 years, 74 countries!). Tara's debut picture book, DESERT GIRL, MONSOON BOY, illustrated by Archana Sreenivasan, was named to many best-of-the-year lists.

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: STARS SO SWEET by T.Tara Dairman is the author of the middle-grade novels THE GIRL FROM EARTH'S END (3.14.23, Candlewick), and ALL FOUR STARS, THE STARS OF SUMMER, STARS SO SWEET, and THE GREAT HIBERNATION (all published by Penguin Random House).

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: THE PECULIAR HAUNTI.

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: COVER REVEAL for H.

All three books have had wonderful, memorable colors-by artist Kelly Murphy. I'll never forget the 'Gladys-under-the restaurant table' scene in All Four Stars, or the disastrous swim test in The Stars of Summer. In Stars So Sweet, there are deliciously comic moments when Gladys tries to wiggle out of meeting her editor in person. Tara Dairman, for my money, is one of the funniest middle grade writers around. I also liked the fact that characters from the earlier novels were developed-Gladys' Aunt Lydia being a case in point. Charissa, for example, could easily have been written as a stereotypical 'mean girl,' but instead we are shown a more rounded side to her. Tara Dairman does a good job with all her characters. Yet she is loyal, level-headed, and creative. True to the middle grade experience, she worries about whether she fits in, about friendships, and about the journey to middle school.

The characters: Gladys is an endearing character.

'Gladys Gatsby felt like a live fish was flopping around in her stomach.' It’s time for Gladys to be true to herself and honest with her friends and family, regardless of what those around her think. Gladys and Aunt Lydia try one last ruse to fool her editor at the Standard, but even with her aunt’s help, Gladys just can’t manage the drama of middle school and a secret life. But her perfectly planned reveal is put on hold when her parents arrive home with a surprise: her Aunt Lydia, one of the only adults who knows her secret, fresh off the plane from Paris. When her editor pushes for a face-to-face meeting to discuss more opportunities with the paper, Gladys knows she must finally come clean to her parents. I'm delighted to have been able to enjoy another Gladys Gatsby adventure and to take part in this blog tour.Īs the summer winds down and Gladys Gatsby prepares to start middle school, she is nervous about juggling schoolwork and looming deadlines from her secret job as the New York Standard’s youngest restaurant critic. Tara was snapped up by agent Ammi-Joan Paquette after the Baker's Dozen auction in 2011, and I loved both previous books in this series, which I reviewed HERE and HERE.

I'm so happy to introduce the third book in Tara Dairman's All Four Stars series. STARS SO SWEET by Tara Dairman (Putnam, July 2016)

Stars So Sweet by Tara Dairman