SEVEN SILLY CIRCLES

Nicki, of I Don't Live Here!, returns in another amusing examination of suburban minutia. Having absent-mindedly licked the inside of a rubber-tipped arrow, then pressed it on her face to see how long she could get it to stay there, Nicki now has several red blotches on her face that refuse to go away. So she hides out in her room, a decision that acquaints her with a moth for which she develops a great fondness, but which disrupts her human friendships. Her parents' annual leaf-raking party provides the denouement. Lured outside by the fun and by the proposal of her friend Jeffrey that they wear masks, she loses her embarrassment in enjoying the day and in the excitement when her father gets a fly stuck in his ear (a vividly described incident). In the end, her friends decide that they wouldn't mind having the same marks on their faces. Some adults may not be fond of either the arrow or the fly incident, but the events are true-to-life and depicted from a child's point of view in a wonderfully concrete manner. This has virtually no plot, but its atmosphere is convincing. Conrad respects the priorities of her readers; they will reward her by looking forward to more adventures about Nicki and her friends.