From School Library Journal
Grade 2-3-Libby sees herself as a loser because she doesn't have a dog and has never had an operation like her friends Annie Bananie and Bonnie. To impress them, and to become a member of the new club, the Pain Sisters, Libby "borrows" her Grandpa's gall stones (which Grandma has kept in a jar) and loses them. After some anxiety and a lesson learned, they are recovered. The competitive and cliquish characters are not likable, and the dialogue is annoyingly cute. Readers will wonder why Bonnie prefaces every comment with an animal sound since no explanation is given, and Grandma says "Aggh" too many times. Gross-out descriptions may appeal to some children (one character eats his dandruff), but otherwise this is painful for all but the most devoted fans.
Ann Cook, Winter Park Public Library, FLCopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
This is the fourth in the series about Annie Bananie and her best friend, Libby. Libby is hurt when Bonnie appropriates Annie and names the two of them the Pain Sisters because Bonnie broke her arm and Annie has an appendix scar. Libby decides to pass off her dead grandfather's gallbladder stones as her own to prove she's had an operation, too. But Libby quickly loses the stones and doesn't know how she'll tell her grandmother, who has held on to them for all these years. The premise is silly but fun enough, and Annie Bananie fans will certainly welcome her back. Kids who have not read the other books, however, may be confused by the first chapter, in which Libby and Annie's club sisters lace their conversation with animal sounds. Ink-and-gray-wash illustrations heighten the book's funny parts.
Ilene Cooper
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
