Mr. Dream Merchant

Set in Atlanta, Bailey's polemical first novel follows a young, middle-class African American named Chase who comes of age under the watchful eyes of a homeless guru known as Junior D.M., or Dream Merchant. Despite his privileged upbringing, Chase starts hanging out with the wrong crowd when his parents' marriage begins to disintegrate, thanks in part to the alcoholism of his father, a physician. Then, after Chase's best friend, Ernie, is killed in a drive-by shooting, Chase gets arrested for stealing beer. Luckily for him, the judge is Ernie's father, who sentences Chase to a ""reprogramming"" class--an alternative to boot camp or juvenile detention. Yet it's not until Chase meets his guardian angel, the mysterious Junior, that he truly begins to change, thanks to Mr. Dream Merchant's ""Twelve Lessons on Life."" Bailey will inspire readers who don't mind finding the saccharine pill of a self-improvement sermon underneath the predictable plot and stereotypical characters that sugar-coat this tale. (June)