A great tale about little Daria & Quinn. (I caught the buried "Jabberwocky" reference.) Daria's mind games are clever and fit her personality well, and Quinn never catches on. One day, though, I'd like to see a little Quinn story where she gets the upper hand against Daria.

A funny thing came to me, which was that some of the cards Daria was "reading" for Quinn might have real future connections if properly interpreted: Art Smart Jane Lane, Sandy Beaches Sandi Griffin, etc. I wonder if this element could be added, with Daria never catching on that she herself is actually predicting the future.

Thanks for the review, but I'm not certain what you're referring to. Remember that only the words inside the quote marks are what Daria and Quinn are actually saying or thinking. *Everything* else is me, the author, setting the scene, describing events, the characters' actions, thoughts, feelings, and attitudes. Even if I use big words to describe Quinn's thought processes, that doesn't mean Quinn is actually thinking those words herself. She isn't, unless the words are in quotes. I don't think I had either of them think or say anything that a typical twelve-year-old wouldn't understand.

As for Daria being a superbrain, or uber-genius, well, she is. I think that was clearly set forth in Boxing Daria, and even more clearly in IICY. That was the meaning of the Dian Fossey Award. Daria is to her Lawndale High classmates as Dian Fossey was to her gorillas, intellectually. I know the ratio isn't exact, but Daria's IQ isn't too far from Albert Einstein's. And since her favorite pastime (and escape) is reading, she knows a hell of a lot, even at thirteen or fourteen (I've given up specifying her exact age in these Young Daria stories).

Again, thanks for the review, and I hope you can enjoy the stories despite my use of the odd two-dollar word.

Very entertaining... but, there's still one element to this series that strains my disbelief: namely, the fact that grade school-aged Daria and Quinn both sound like they swallowed the entire Oxford English Dictionary. :-) We know that Daria is smart, but she did *not* sound like this in "Boxing Daria." (And Quinn didn't even sound like this at 17, let alone at this young age.) I've read many an enjoyable fanfic that used the "Daria as uber-genius" cliche, but it doesn't work quite as well when she's a pre-teen... for *me*, anyway.

Again, enjoyable but slightly flawed. Three out of four stars. A conditional thumbs-up. Or whatever. :-)

Finestkind, and I liked the rhyme.