THE HOT FUDGE SUNDAY AFFAIR

This light novel is a breezy read but little else. In the sequel to The Banana Split Affair, identical twins Susan and Christine Pratt once again take on one another's identities, this time to fool the town of Whittington. When Christine is chosen to be Queen of Whittington's Centennial Week, she decides that she wants Susan to share in the fun, so every other day during the week of celebration, Chris and Susan take turns being Queen Christine. They have vowed that if they can pull the stunt off, they will treat each other to hot fudge sundaes as soon as the festivities are over. The trouble begins when each girl realizes how much she must keep track of in order for the other to know what she supposedly did that day. And the deception rapidly becomes complicated when each twin falls for a different boy, both of whom think they have fallen for Queen Christine, and more complicated still when the spoiled daughter of the mayor learns of the twins' secret and decides to expose them. In the end, they're discovered, but the townspeople good-naturedly take the trick as a joke. The idea, if not original, is carried out well here, with enough plot twists and turns to make for an amusing page-turner. Unfortunately, the writing is amateurish--the characters say such things as ""What do you say you and I hop on over to. . ."" and ""Well, my boy"" (as one boy slaps another on the back). Teens, however, may overlook these flaws and the stereotyped characters, and simply enjoy the story.