Lockie Leonard, Human Torpedo

Moving to Australia's East Coast from Perth makes 14-year-old Lockie an outsider and a city boy--an identity worsened by the fact that his father is a cop and the family lives on the wrong side of the tracks. Still, between smart-mouthing in school, thrashing the waves on his surfboard and having the popular Vicki Streeton as a girlfriend, Lockie soon establishes his place in town. It's a difficult time: sexual stirrings begin perplexing Lockie, and Vicki seems to be confusing love with precocious sex. The boy is also faced with other, more universal concerns, such as the depletion of the ozone, nuclear weapons and world peace. While trendy brand names, pop artists and television programs will date this first novel, Lockie's successes with the business of life have the solid ring of truth. Winton's dry, typically Down Under wit and his use of alien, sometimes challenging Australian slang should charm young readers on this side of the equator. Ages 10-up. (Jan.)