THE FEARLESS LEROY

As told by another kid, the upbeat story of ""weird"" Leroy who wears outmoded hand-me-downs and performs reckless stunts to prove to the gang that his father is The Fearless Fantini of circus fame. It is the others who first dare Leroy to coast down steep Lombard Street on his skateboard, but then he rips off a trolley (this is San Francisco) all on his own. Leroy is humiliated when the circus comes to town and the gate man won't admit him with his friends--and the next thing they know there is Leroy on TV, having climbed 150 feet up the mast of the Balclutha down near Fisherman's Wharf. The next thing he knows Fantini himself, silver tights and all, is climbing to the rescue. . . . The following day all the kids see the circus from down front, and a month later they get a post card from Leroy, who's traveling with his dad for the summer and learning to be a clown. Like Molarsky's other city street adventures it's thin but loose and friendly--and here the glittering Fantini makes the wish-fulfillment easy to accept.