Everyone's a Critic

Samantha writes a review of her sister's play for the school newspaperbut her honest opinions provoke some serious offstage drama! Samantha is thrilled when she and her crush, Michael Lawrence, are assigned to write a review of the school play for the next issue of the newspaper. The Broadway revival will be a joint production between the middle school and the high school and is going to be theevent of the school year, according to Allie, Sam's older sister. But when Sam and Michael leave the theater, they're less than impressed. Allie performed well, but the show had some flawsprops and lighting malfunctioned and the lead actress forgot some lines. So Sam and Michael turn in a review that is fair if not flattering…and the Drama Club is furious! To make matters worse, Allie accuse Sam of being jealous. Sam is faced with a big dilemma: Is it better to be honest, or flattering?

Rachel Wise loves to give advice. When she’s not editing or writing children’s books, which she does full-time at a publisher in New York, she’s reading advice columns in newspapers, magazines, and blogs—and is always sure her advice would be better! Her dream is to someday have her own talk show, where she could share her wisdom with millions of people at once, but for now she’s happy to dole out advice in small portions in Dear Know-It-All books.