SCREEN TEST

Can a high-school sophomore from New Jersey keep her head and her heart when Hollywood calls? Liz can't understand why guys are suddenly hitting on her, but their motives become clearer when, shortly after she reluctantly appears in a student film, a pair of sleek producers offer her a lead in their Next Big Movie, to be shot in California. Off she goes. Everyone agrees that though she is untutored, Liz has ``a quality'' in front of the camera; behind the scenes, her leading man, hunky rising star Tommy Fletcher, plies her with compliments and takes her on a whirlwind tour of La-La-Land. Although much of what is covered here has been endlessly recycled in paperback romances and television sitcoms, Klass (Danger Zone, 1996, etc.) demonstrates abilities to depart from the sports stories for which he is better known, and to do his homework. He offers eye-opening glimpses of the Southern California scene as well as workaday life on the set, but this is mostly a tale of twin seduction: Tommy works on Liz, but so does the siren song of stardom. While Klass's protagonist here isn't much different, except physically, from his male heroes, she demonstrates the inner strength to cope with challenges overt and subtle, and to make savvy choices in the clutch. (Fiction. 12-15)