PICK A NEW DREAM

Picking a new dream was no easy matter for Beany Malone whose illustrious father and brother were leading lights in the newspaper world and who was certain that with high school graduation she would become columnist Eve Baxter's assistant. How painful was the realization arrived at through a discussion with Eve that unlike her family, Beany's talents lay in the direction of action, rather than writing. When young Cariton, her neighbor, suggests welfare work at Lilac Way Recreation Center, Beany is not enthralled but she is willing. The problems she meets in working as a group leader with foreign born teenagers are overcome slowly so that much later, Beany reaps the intangible rewards of her job. Elena, who ""borrowed"" a bracelet for the outing needs guidance of a different sort than does the boy who really suffers from sticky fingers. The enmity between Beany and Ofila could not be resolved and is brought to a climax when Beany passes the life-saving test. There is romance too, as the friendship with the boy next door takes a new color. This is a competent if somewhat shallow depiction of welfare work as well as one girl's success in it.