Necessary Parties

When his parents announce that they are getting a divorce, Chris Mills, 15, takes action; he gets an unconventional lawyer named Corelli (for a dollar) and sues them. Because Corelli takes on few cases and prefers working as an auto mechanic, Chris reads The Rights of Young People to see if he can't research the case on his own. In a climactic court scene, Chris tells the judge that he thinks his parents really love each other but just don't have time to work out their differences. His parents agree to start over. An overlong, though often engaging work, this has the usual abundance of comic characters found in all of Dana's books. Chris is especially adept at pointing out some of the ironies of divorce. At times, however, he seems far too wise for his years; some of this is offset by the basic premise that he has to act older than his parents to be able to help them see the error of their ways. (12-up)