A MOTHER TO EMBARRASS ME

"She embarrasses me more than should be allowed," says the 12-year-old narrator of this chirpy, occasionally cloying novel. "She" is Laura's impulsive mother, a model turned sculptor who makes up words to songs and belts them out for neighbors to hear as she works in her studio. Perplexed that her parent has gone "from cool to geek" seemingly overnight, Laura begins yet another of her beloved lists: "Things to change about MY MOTHER." The list quickly grows as her mother almost burns the house down trying to toast bread and then announces that she is pregnant. Laura is mortified: "Pretty soon everyone at church and in the neighborhood will know that she and Dad were active. You'd think there would be a law about people as old as they are doing... well, you know." Many middle-grade girls will nod in recognition as Laura describes her mother's (and a few of her father's) gaffes, but the heroine's grumbling is not enough to sustain the novel. Ages 8-12. (Mar.)