AMANDA

Liz and baby sister Keechie soon find out that their new neighbor Amanda is no ordinary little girl. From the moment she moved in, Amanda seemed capable of strange powers, -- like sending up rockets, bringing paper dolls to life, growing live caterpillars from homemade cocoons and in general revealing the joys of child omnipotence. Without ever letting on to mother, Keechie and Liz participate in some of the most unconventional activities possible. Amanda's games are usually a hairline away from being unlawful. Though she doesn't condone stealing, she sees nothing wrong in selling father's golf balls for a bag of candy or riding a bicycle through a department store on the pretext of transporting it to a window display. Readers will better understand Amanda when on Halloween she takes off on the proverbial broomstick clearing up any doubts about her identity. Episodes which should bounce with charm and humor as they veer from reality to the supernatural somehow never take off the ground, perhaps because Amanda herself is so humorless.