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This week's recommendation is BEE SEASON by Myla Goldberg, and it chronicles the Naumann family's experiences after fourth-grader Eliza discovers she is a spelling prodigy. Her father, Saul, who has longed for Eliza's older brother, Aaron, to discover the joys of Judaism and religion-related academe, has been disappointed by his son's disinterest in the subject, and seizes the opportunity to train his daughter in her newfound skill.

Saul's obsessions with Eliza and her talent and competitions overshadows his ability to see what is happening with the rest of his family:  his son embarks on a quest to find a religion that better suits him, and his wife is slipping away as an obsession of her own secretly begins to consume more of her time and sanity.

copyright 2002 Cathy Belben