Your Move, J.P.!

J.P. Tate, age 12, is in love for the first time. But not with just anybody: he's in love with the exquisitely beautiful Angela Patricia Galsworthy, who has just moved to America from London. J.P. is so infatuated that he will go to any lengths to impress Angela: he tells her, in fact, that he has a very rare, fatal disease called triple framosis. The boy's seemingly inconsequential lie takes on major proportions when he learns that Angela's father is a specialist in genetic disorders and is interested in J.P.'s case. When he suddenly realizes that Angela is just another girl, it is too late to untangle himself gracefully from his web of lies. In both Switcharound and The One Hundredth Thing About Caroline , J.P.'s antics are funny and refreshing. But while certain incidents in Lowry's latest tale of J.P. are highly entertaining, this story lacks some of the spark and originality of her earlier works. Ages 8-12. (Apr.)