Gr 4-6 Park commiserates with the problems of pre-adolescence in this first-person narrative of ten-year-old Howard Jeeter, whose life is temporarily destroyed by a cross-country move to a new family home. Howard knows what awaits him as he drives east from Arizona with his insensitive parents, bawling baby brother, and smelly basset hound to a historic house in Massachusetts: he will be a vulnerable and possibly despised new kid.'' His first contact on Chester Pewe St. is Molly, an intrusive first-grader with red hairstyled kind of like Bozo's.'' Her desperate attempts to be friendly drive Howard to distraction and also make him anxious that his new classmates won't accept him if he hangs around a first grader. Howard's coming to terms with Molly's need for friendship is a particularly well-done part of the novel. As in Operation: Dump the Chump (1982) and Beanpole (1983, both Knopf), Park writes in a witty and bittersweet style about the awkward, super-sensitive age of early adolescence; her humor both reflects and sharpens the sensibilities of her readers in the areas of family and friend relationships. Another first-rate addition by this author to the middle-grade popular reading shelf. Linda Wicher, Lincolnwood Public Library, Ill.

Two comic novels portray the struggles of middle-grade boys trying to fit in. Ages 8-12. (Apr.)