April 1st 2020 by Peachtree Publishing Company
ARC provided by the publisher
After Nina Soni, Former Best Friend, Nina is back, and this time is concerned that her little sister is a bit too exuberant. She sings a lot, and when Nina is seen by everyone on the bus doing a goofy dance about Lucky the beaver with her sister, she decides that she has to make Kavita "less weird". This isn't easy to do, but Nina is great at making lists and action plans. One rainy Saturday when her parents are not feeling well, Nina decides that she will have Kavita help her build a dam near a storm drain, and this will take her sister's mind off singing. Using dirt from a pile on a neighbors' driveway, they build an oddly effective dam... that just might flood the neighborhood. Luckily, they tell their parents in time, and the dam is dismantled before any real destruction occurs. Since her parents are still ill, she and Kavita go to Nina's friend Jay's grandfather's house for the weekend without them, and Nina realizes that there are worse things than her sister's singing.
Strengths: I love the details of Nina's family life-- I can't think of another book that shows parents being ill with a nonfatal disease. It's also nice to see that Jay's family steps in to help. Like the first book, there is lots of yummy food being described. I like that Nina makes lists and has plans, even if they don't always work out the way she hopes!
Weaknesses: I find storm drains to be extremely dangerous and never let the girls play near any. (There is a particularly tempting one near our local park.) This bothered me a lot, but hopefully will not encourage young readers to head out looking for storm drains to dam up!
What I really think: I would definitely purchase this for an elementary library, but the series is a bit young for my readers.
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