by Marisa Montes
From Kirkus Reviews
New York, NY
Bi-weekly: 4,000
August 1, 2003
In this second adventure, Puerto Rican-American Gabi confronts a minor mystery: why is the new girl in the neighborhood so secretive? Could she even be a ghost? After all, the house is reputed to be haunted. Lizzie, A.K.A. Lizard, is all too human; due to a birth defect, she wears a leg brace and goes to a special school. Not wanting to be pitied, she tries to prevent others from finding out. Gabi and Lizzie quickly bond over their physical agility (Lizzie is an excellent climber) and their imaginary roles as super heroes-Gabi the Great and Gecko Girl, respectively-but almost lose their new-found friendship over Lizzie’s older twin brothers, who enjoy terrorizing Gabi’s little brother Miguelito. Gabi’s narration is propulsive and a little hyper-sure to please young readers-and Cepeda’s line illustrations are wry, emotive, and only a bit exaggerated, Spanish words and phrases, explained both by context and a glossary, will feel comfortable and comforting to bilingual students, while providing non-Spanish speakers with an appealing introduction to the language.