Carmen Dives in: Star Sisterz, #2

"Carmen Dives In" follows Carmen's first days in High School. Ninth grade can be bad enough, but for Carmen it is extra hard. Her father has just remarried and she has a new stepbrother and stepsister -- both of whom she's not really sure if she can get along with. Carmen's independence is pretty remarkable -- she secretly blogs about her life each day, and joins the Newspaper to be a reporter like her dad. But what Carmen truly wants to do, join the swimteam, is sidetracked by her greatest fear: diving. And does she really want to overcome it? This book is a fun read. It was a cute story that taught a lesson without being overly moralistic. My favorite part was the intergration of Carmen's blog posts at the end of each chapter, which gave us more insight into Carmen's thoughts and also helped propell the story. One cool thing about the series as a whole is that the books aren't ghostwritten by multiple authors (psst: most series are secretly written by a rotating cast of numerous writers -- paging Nancy Drew, Sweet Valley High, and the Babysitters Club!!). Rather than using a pseudonym for the series, each of the four characters profiled in the series has its own author so each book about each girl has its own unique voice.