I didn't like Groundhog Day (the movie), but I loved 11 Birthdays (the middle grade novel) by Wendy Mass. They share a similar conceit: the main characters repeat the same day over and over again. In the case of Amanda Ellerby, it's her eleventh birthday--the only one she hasn't celebrated with her ex-best friend Leo. Now she has to figure out how to move on, and she needs Leo's help to do so. But is Leo experiencing the same day over again, too? Who's responsible, and why?

It's easy to forget that 11 Birthdays is a fantasy novel (and a Cybils finalist in that category), simply because it's so firmly set in a middle grade world. Mass revisits that world (and some of its characters) in her latest novel, Finally (Scholastic, 2010). This one is about Rory Swenson's long-awaited 12th birthday--but the weeks that follow it aren't what Rory wanted them to be. I wonder if Angelina has anything to do with that?