Happy Birthday, Sophie Hartley by Stephanie Greene 127 pages

I loooooove Stephanie Greene. Her Owen Foote series for young boy readers is the best. This is the third in the series about a modern day Ramona Quimby (Beverly Cleary series). In this episode, Sophie is greatly anticipating her first double digit birthday. Since her older brother got a car for his 16th birthday, she is thinking big. She is a planner and more than a bit of a conniver and she voices her birthday wish to her Dad while he is watching an intense football game. He actually did say yes when Sophie whispered her request for a baby gorilla and she starts going into heavy planning for the baby gorilla's arrival. She lets her big news out among friends, but doesn't really tell mom. Great family and friend story