CHELSEA MARTIN TURNS GREEN

Not only does Chelsea color her face with what turns out to be an indelible magic marker for a St. Patrick's Day leprechaun contest (winning a prize but, disappointingly, no glory from her third-grade classmates)—but she's also feeling green with envy over best-friend Mary Lynne's friendship with new classmate Abigail. Predictably, the girls make it a threesome by book's end; meanwhile, much of the action is almost too ordinary to be interesting. Still, there are several good scenes (a goldfish buried ``at sea'' [down the toilet], with the girls debating an appropriate epitaph; Chelsea ``rescuing'' Abbie by helping her wash peanut butter from her baby brother under umbrellas in the shower); and the dialogue, the embarrassment Chelsea brings on herself, and her clumsy efforts to get along with the other kids all ring true. Only the occasional b&w drawings reveal that Mary Lynne is African-American. A likable sequel to Speak Up, Chelsea Martin! (1991). (Fiction. 7-9)