Most Embarrasing Mother in the World

Alex and Suzie have three commonalities: their age (14), their mutual admiration and pretentious, overbearing mothers. The friends decide to use toy clickers as a Pavlovian way of curbing their mothers' grating and embarrassing behavior. The experiment proves so effective that Suzie almost ``clicks'' Alex when she learns he's been neglecting his free-spirited father. Filichia's ( Girls Can't Do It ) latest YA novel is overly detailed, repetitive and saccharine. Alex's exhausting first-person narrative reveals every thought, and too much is made of his frequent blushing. The author's liberal use of the colloquial ``like'' is as jarring in print as in speech. Modifying parental conduct might be achieved more expeditiously--and respectfully--through discussion rather than ``scientific'' means. Ages 12-up. (Apr.)