LEAVE IT TO CHANCE: Shaman's Rain

Like the Nancy Drew mysteries that inspired it, Robinson's newest work is a paean to the resourcefulness and spirit of a curious tomboyish type who's addicted to adventure. Chance Falconer is a 14-year-old only child born into a family of municipal sorcerers that has protected the city of Devil's Echo for centuries. Chance can't wait to start training in the family business, but her father decides he doesn't want a girl joining the family's dangerous profession. Predictably, it's not long before she stumbles onto a dead body and a kidnapping in progress, and soon enough she's got a full-fledged mystery on her hands. Devil's Echo is the kind of town where the mayor has to worry about evil spells and goblins in the sewers in addition to urban blight. Chance and her pint-sized flying dragon sidekick discover a plot to influence the mayoral election in Devil's Echo, but by the end of this rip-snorting supernatural adventure, she's uncovered an even bigger scheme to destroy both the town and her father. This is a girl power comic written with a younger audience in mind. The smartest cops are female, the violence is G-rated and the story is fast-paced, brightly colored and as wholesome as it gets. Published in an oversized hardcover edition that aims at recapturing the charm of comics adventure classics such as Tintin, the book's dynamic illustrations and its multicultural cast of characters make it an ideal storybook. (Jan.)