When her father begins a long-distance romance with a Washington, D.C.
zookeeper, twelve-year-old Frankie sends fabricated email letters to the
zookeeper in an attempt to end the relationship, in this story about family,
friendship, and growing up.

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### From School Library Journal

Grade 5-7-Frankie Wallop is shocked when she reads an e-mail sent to her
widowed father by a woman he met recently. Not only does it sound as though
the two have spent time together, but also that there was a kiss involved.
Immediately taking the situation in hand, the 12-year-old responds to Ayanna
with the sound advice to never write her dad again-he is much too busy with
his family, especially Frankie's two younger brothers who have some sort of
horrible disease. Now that she has sorted that out, she can turn her attention
to the upcoming audition for the school play, convinced that the lead will be
hers. Frankie is about to find out that life does not always follow one's
plans. Not only does Ayanna keep writing back, asking Frankie about her life
and describing her own job as the keeper of the naked mole-rats at the
National Zoo, but unhappy thoughts that her father might remarry also keep
creeping into her mind. Not getting the part in the play is also a deep blow,
and she does not know how to cope. The straight-A student finds herself
ditching school, lying to her teachers, shutting out her best friend, and
ignoring the needs of her younger brothers. Through the e-mails to Ayanna and
her own diary entries, readers follow Frankie's struggles with disappointment,
anger, loss, and growing up. Only after a family crisis does she finally talk
with her father and begin to work things out. A fairly predictable story, but
one with solid relationships and refreshing characterizations. _\- Terrie
Dorio, Santa Monica Public Library, CA_
Copyright (C) Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All
rights reserved.

### From Booklist

Gr. 4-7. Frankie is shocked when she intercepts an e-mail from a woman, Ayanna
(nicknamed Ratlady), who apparently met and kissed Frankie's widowed father
during a recent business trip. She begins an e-mail exchange with Ayanna in an
attempt to discourage the budding romantic relationship. Ayanna, keeper of the
naked mole rats at the Washington, D.C., National Zoo, attempts to maintain an
honest dialogue, but Frankie's desperate and comic replies escalate out of
control. In a believable way, Frankie begins to act out of character in
reaction to the changes in her life, unsettling her best friend, her teachers,
and also her father. Ayanna's supportive e-mails (including analogies to the
behavior of her small mammals) eventually help Frankie deal with her
disappointment at not getting the lead in the school's play and prompt her to
talk to her father about their latent grief over the death of Frankie's
mother. Told in e-mails and diary entries, this is a humorous look at honesty
and privacy that will have special relevance for readers whose parents are
back in the dating pool. _Cindy Dobrez_
_Copyright (C) American Library Association. All rights reserved_