A Small Pleasure

Wray Jean, Wilma High School's majorette and Cats Club initiate, precisely regulates her life, heaping goal upon goal. She figures that if she meets every standard and follows all the rules, she will be a success. While she forces herself through her daily routines, she carefully ignores one glaring, terrible truth: her father's cancer was not cured by an early operation, and he is steadily growing sicker. When he dies, she isn't prepared, but she remains in control, until one night when all her goals culminatea night when Wray Jean learns to put away measuring sticks and fight for happiness. This first novel is no small pleasure in its lyrical simplicity and complex, deeply felt emotions. Wray Jean's problems and hopes hound all teenagers, but they are related here in the distinctive voice of a writer of genuine promise. Ages 12-up. (March)