Page Four

David Smith's life is shattered when his father leaves the family to move to Alaska with a young woman. David, whose goal was to prove that jocks are smart by getting into a good college, stops going to school, quits the school basketball team and loses interest in college plans. He withdraws from life, as does his mother, and in helping her, David helps himself. He thinks again about college but realizes that he may have waited too long to apply. Using ""page four'' of his college application form, he describes the extenuating circumstances of his high school record. This device gives credence to David's self-analysis, but readers may wish they had been left to draw their own conclusions. The first-person narrative provides much humor, however, through David's sly asides. A moving coming-of-age story. (12-up)