One Potato Tu (Seven Stories)

This series of seven interrelated stories offers an intimate glimpse of one contemporary family living in Oakland, Calif. Situations--sending Mom to summer camp, entering a bird-calling contest on a bet, writing an essay about a potato--prove to be as humorous and tender as they are original, but the real strength of Pearson's writing lies in her development of character and ability strongly to evoke a particular mood that will linger in readers' minds. Teens and preteens will have no trouble relating to the embarrassment, homesickness, sympathy and love experienced by Lindsey, a sensitive 13-year-old; Eric, her older brother; and Tu, her Asian adopted brother. As precisely wrought and genuine as the stories of Cynthia Rylant and Gary Soto, these selections emerge as microcosms of life as universal as laughter and tears. Ages 10-14. (Apr.)