Granny the Pag

""Other people's grandmothers are soft and powdery and gentle and kind. But my granny is a Pag,"" says Cat (short for Catriona), the narrator of this quirky family drama. A Pag is ""someone who can make things happen,"" and Cat's grandmother is the original: a leather-wearing, motorcycle-riding, chain-smoking... psychiatrist. A portrait in exuberant, intelligent eccentricity, she has raised Cat since she was a toddler, and there's never any doubt why Cat should want to stay with her when Cat's parents-two fatuous, self-absorbed soap opera actors who ran off to pursue their careers-decide they're ready to settle down as a family at last. How Cat manages to remain with the Pag is the crux of the action. Despite the serious themes, Bawden (Carrie's War) maintains a light touch throughout, though never at the expense of characterization. Cat's moments of embarrassment, frustration, elation and just silliness combine to shape a protagonist with whom readers can identify. Others who at first seem straight from fiction central casting (like Willie, the school bully and Cat's perennial tormentor) take a surprise step out of their initially limited portraits to cast small but provocative shadows of their own. Ages 9-12. (Apr.)