I've been reading this series out of order because sometimes you get the books in a series out of order and for the longest time I couldn't figure out why I liked the later books in the series (6-10) more than 1-5 and then it hit me. Maisie. She grows and develops and becomes less annoying to me? Though I do understand why she acts the way she does and Ann Hood deals with divorced parents and moving in a pretty realistic way for Middle Grade, so I have to give her kudos for that. I did enjoy this book and I do recommend it, as I do the whole series (and I'd never heard of Pearl, so this one was especially fun for me!) 4 out of 5 stars. ( )