WEATHER EYE

In a story set at the turn of the 21st century, Howarth (Maphead, 1994, not reviewed) proposes the development of teens as a resource for rescuing the Earth from ecological disaster. Intelligent, sensitive Telly, 13, lives with her parents and younger brother, Race, at the family's turbine power station in the Welsh countryside. When the latest in a seemingly endless series of electrical storms almost kills her, she experiences a near-death revelation: She sees Earth as a tree and by ``feeling calm'' knows she can somehow help the planet heal itself. She rallies neighbors and teens around the world to become fellow ``weather eyes,'' plotting the weather and envisioning eco-harmony. Howarth's depiction of teens is dead-on, and the pending disaster is serious. Telly's attitudes may strike some as a bit saccharine in the era of Beavis and Butthead, but the characters' cooperation, zeal, and support of scientific solutions is real enough. (Fiction. 12-15)