LIBBY'S STEP-FAMILY
By
Shirley Simon (Cousins at Camm Corners; Best Friend) writes about problems and in terms which every pre-teenager can recognize, and ever since Cinderella, step has been a stumbling block. When Libby's mother Agnes marries Sam Willis with a girl her age, Bert, and a dreadful older sister, Mildred, the atmosphere is one of mutual resentment and incivility. They all go to Europe for the summer and while travel broadens, it does not narrow the differences between the girls. It does however hold the story together--croissants and chocolate and the Louvre in Paris; Florence and the Pitti Palace; and a not too successful inset--the girl Libby meets in Paris (who also goes to Italy) and has a problem with her ""father's wife"" and children. At the end Agnes has an accident (slight to be sure) after a scene with Libby drives her blindly out into the streets in front of a motorscooter. Girls will like it and there's no reason why they shouldn't; it's pleasant.