THE MAGIC LAKE

Mr. Oberrich's first book is a frankly autobiographical story of his Indiana lake district childhood and full of the kind of humorous realism that perfectly describes a summer to best all summers. When Rob and Chet Neill move to Lanceburg and make friends with the Gouldings and their son Larry, things just naturally begin to pop. The boys go exploring on Lake Tomahawk, watch old Johnston build his steamboat, capture a Pottawatomie Indian boy, Tom, who tells them a thing or two and after his release is their firm friend. Acquaintance with Tom's people accompanies further scrapes, and there's the lake's legend to top a swell three months.