When their favourite hockey-playing-goalkeeper pal moves out of the neighbourhood, three kids are disappointed when Mr. McNeil, a man without any children, moves into their friend's former house in Alison Acheson's The Cul-de-sac Kids (Tradewind $8.95), illustrated by Elisa Guitiérrez. When Mr. McNeil announces he will soon have two new step-children, Daisy and Henry, the three kids in the cul-de-sac street hockey gang, Kezie, Patrick and Jed, are skeptical about his abilities to be a suitable father. Before Mr. McNeil's wedding, the kids put him through the paces of Dad School, hoping to make him less clueless about kids, but Mr. McNeil gets an F in all the subjects such as playing goalie, or ordering pizza, or putting up a tent. When Mr. McNeil's new daughter Daisy finds the report card, Kezie hastily explains that all those Fs accorded to her new dad actually stand for Fine. And it's true, everything will be fine-in a neighbourhood of tolerance and respect. 978-1896580-999

[BCBW 2012]