Bradley and the Billboard

Brad Wilson is the first 13-year-old to hit a ball into the billboard beyond center field; Jessie, the girl he likes, returns his feelings; and he's drop-dead gorgeous. Most boys would be happy to be in his shoes, but Farrell (Marrying Malcolm Murgatroyd) shows how assets can turn into liabilities if you don't stay true to yourself. The lone male at home among his grandmother, aunt, mother and little sister, Brad, goaded by his nemesis, Skeff, worries whether his knowledge of pantyhose and other feminine arcana makes him ""wimpy."" He feels even wimpier when the PR manager at the local department store asks him to model for a newspaper circular and his picture ends up on the billboard. But his self-image quickly changes when he becomes a local celebrity: girls follow him everywhere and a teen model invites him to a glitzy Manhattan party. Farrell adroitly shows Brad's slide into conceit and his scramble back out. Though some story elements are a bit farfetched (what ad director lets a novice model, and a teenager at that, call all the shots?) and the climax is both forced and predictable, the vignettes of the fashion world are amusing and characterizations and emotions have the ring of authenticity. Ages 10-up. (Apr.)