Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Gifted #1 by Marilyn Kaye (Kingfisher/Macmillan, $7.99 paper, 9780753462836/0753462834, 240 pp., ages 10-14, June 2009)

Forget walking two moons in someone else's moccasins: Try being trapped inside someone else's body! For 13-year-old Amanda Beeson, it gets even worse. She goes from being "the Queen of Mean" who rules Meadowbrook Middle School ("or at least the eighth grade"), to assuming the identity of Tracey Devon, "the most pathetic creature in the entire class." Amanda has the "gift" or, perhaps more accurately, the "curse" of inhabiting the bodies of people for whom she feels pity. The first time it happened, Amanda was not yet five years old, and she felt sorry for a homeless woman. But it hadn't occurred in nearly three years. So why was this "bizarre bodysnatching" happening again? Kaye (Penelope) uses her trademark mix of clever plotting and edgy humor to skewer the middle-grade mafia. No one is safe. While disguised in Tracey's body, "Amanda-Tracey" learns what her two so-called best friends really think of Amanda. And is it possible that the real Tracey somehow contributed to her "invisibility" by not standing up for herself, as her younger septet siblings took over the household? There's even a classroom at Meadowbrook where "Madame" instructs all the "gifted" students (some with surprising identities, such as Ken the jock) to help them try to control their abilities. The author leaves a few questions hanging. (These include: When "invisible" Amanda-Tracey carries objects, are the objects still visible? Is the principal in cahoots with the student teacher who's trying to co-opt the "gifted" students' talents to her own selfish ends? And who set up the "gifted" classroom anyway?) But perhaps these will be answered in one of the series' next installments. In the meantime, the author's wit keeps readers turning these pages. For each featured teen, there's a logic to the gift: The "Queen of Mean" spews spite as a matter of survival, to save herself from succumbing to her sympathies and literally turning into someone else; Tracey becomes a wallflower alongside the darling "Devon Seven"; and Goth girl Jenna puts on a bad girl persona to keep others at arm's length and hide her broken home life with her alcoholic mother. The fact that Amanda finds in Jenna an unlikely ally will only heighten readers' interest. Fans of this first book will eagerly grab the next installment, Better Late Than Never ($7.99 paper, 9780753463000/0753463008, also June), to see if Amanda will acknowledge the liaisons she made in this entertaining series launch.--Jennifer M. Brown