Mariah can go to the mall, spike a volleyball, change her hairstyle as quickly as she changes her mood, and dream of kissing Sheik Bashara, but her happy world is threatened by her half-sister Denise's pending arrival. Mariah's shallow character makes it difficult for the reader to feel any real empathy for her insecurity. From the novel's beginning, Mariah competes with her mother and her older sister Lynn(Lynn is a very cool character.) for her father's attention: "Mariah had her daddy to herself...Mariah believed she was her daddy's favorite." When Denise arrives, will she still be her daddy's favorite? Though for any young reader, Mariah's worries about having to share her room and Sheik Bashara music with Denise would be real concerns, she appears entirely self-absorbed. Episode following episode, Mariah and Lynn spar, adding molasses to the drawn out plot. It is not until the novel's final five pages that the crucial question, of why Mariah's mother would not allow Denise to live with them, is addressed. In a melodramatic scene, while waiting for Denise at the airport gate, Mariah's mother wrings her hands and confesses her veiled insecurity about her husband's child from his first marriage. Upon her arrival, Denise gives Mariah a Sheik Bashara poster, and the future of Mariah and her family concludes with superficial brightness. The suggested reading level for this book is grades four to six.