I HATE COMPANY

 Dan (I Hate Camping, 1991, etc.) puts up with long-term guests in the small apartment where he and his mother live: Mom's old friend Kay (a smoker--bleah!) and her irrepressible three- year-old son, Jimmy. Kay, reeling from a divorce, needs to crash there until she finds a job, which could take forever in this job market. Desperate to get his privacy back, Dan ``helps'' her job search and nearly blows it--but he inadvertently wins her the right job in the end. The young narrator's voice sounds authentic, but his take on the world just doesn't ring true: The toddler never seems as obnoxious nor the adults as obtuse as Dan claims. Instead we have a bland, predictable plot with mild conflicts, watered-down dangers, and pat resolutions--a pity, considering what serious family issues it touches (or only grazes). And it isn't even very funny--four or five chuckles at most. It's hard enough to get boys this age to read: This won't do the trick. (Fiction. 7-9)