Grade 3–5—Kaley's fourth-grade class is doing a unit on letter writing. Each student must select an e-mail pen pal from a worldwide list of English-speaking schools. The nine-year-old encounters one problem after another with her choice of "cyberpals." The first one turns out to be a boy, and "boys=YUCK." Her next choice begins well, but after a few days the girl from Zimbabwe decides to write to someone else. Kaley keeps picking new pals and soon has six correspondences going. Readers learn about her life through these e-mails, and through notes to and from her teacher and reports that she writes for class. The plot is humorous, and dramatic tension is created by the conflict between Kaley and her class rival. Since the story is mainly told through short e-mails, it reads quickly.
