In this modern-day fairytale, Greta struggles to make her mark until she succumbs to the mischief of an enchanted doll.

Greta Starr has one dream: to be a famous reporter. Unfortunately she’s been assigned to write for the paper’s most boring beat, and she feels stuck. Then, on her twelfth birthday, Greta receives a mysterious cuckoo clock with a wooden dancer named Lulu inside. Every hour, the doll twirls in time with the music—until one night she comes to life. Lulu is infused with magic and mischief. With Lulu’s sly encouragement, Greta engineers a feel-good story to report, setting in motion a series of remarkable, if deceitful, happy endings at school that help Greta gain popularity. But when the truth threatens Greta’s friendships, she is confronted with very real consequences that Lulu’s magic can’t fix.

This coming-of-age story explores the blurred line between fact and fiction as Greta realizes the key to being a great reporter—and a great friend—is striving for truth, not perfection.

Melissa Dassori lives in New York City with her husband and three daughters, with whom she especially likes to enjoy books, travel, time outside and ice cream. Melissa’s middle grade debut, J.R. Silver Writes Her World, was published in 2022 by Christy Ottaviano Books/Little, Brown BYR. An assignment from her own fourth grade teacher inspired the story, although Melissa couldn’t conjure the same magical results that J.R. Silver can. Her next middle grade novel, Greta Ever After (Ottaviano/LBYR), will be out in August 2025.