INTRODUCING SHIRLEY BRAVERMAN

Still another well-remembered World War II girlhood, this one is set unmistakably in Brooklyn where Father is a garment cutter and volunteer air raid warden and twelve-year-old Shirley's twin preoccupations are becoming New York City spelling champion (she gets as far as borough finals) and conspiring with best friend Mitzi to trick, hypnotize and/or frighten timid little brother Theodore into being manly. Mitzi's own brother is temporarily missing in action and Shirley feels almost as bad as her friend, but Buddy does come home again and soon there's a block celebration of V-J day, ""the happiest day of my life."" Engaging nostalgia for a time when the P.S. 247 Thanksgiving pageant could make you feel misty and patriotic--""even though two of the pilgrims were caught on the wrong side of the curtain.