WHO'S ON FIRST?

The author of several easily read yet perceptive novels (What I Heard, 1987, etc.) here simplifies his delivery so much that it undermines his story's possibilities for subtlety or suspense. Alex, 15, is concerned about his nice, shy sister, a teacher: she doesn't date. He contrives to get a friend's cousin (Leon) to ask Carol out; but when the two come to one of Alex's baseball games, Alex discovers that Leon's a clod who advocates using dirty tricks to win. Protectively, Alex warns his sister off, but without naming names—with the result that she thinks he's talking about her real new love interest, his baseball coach. The confusion that follows is the gist of the plot; but since there's never much doubt that it'll be dispelled in the end, there's little suspense, and neither does Geller do much with its comic possibilities. What he does do is suggest some believable characters with an implied depth that's greater than average for hi-lo fiction, presenting another easily read story that never condescends to its readers. (Fiction. 10-14)