SNOWBOARD MAVERICK

Dennis O'Malley, 13, learns to conquer his fear in this palatable but sugar-coated sports adventure from the late Christopher. Dennis is a likable character, an avid and talented skateboarder who is eager to convert to snowboarding, if he can overcome his lingering anxiety after a skiing accident years earlier. Dennis's friends, Tasha and Robbie, ease him into the sport, and his cardboard cut-out parents—pretty, overprotective mother; jock father—are there to cheer him on. Eventually, Dennis confronts his angst in a snowboard race against bully Rick Hogan on the same ski slope where he'd broken his leg, but his swift victory smooths over any qualms. A final contest between Dennis and the town snowboarding hotdog leads to a tie and some celebrity for both boys, in an affable but indulgent suburban fantasy. (Fiction. 10-12)