Don't Call It Paradise

The starry-eyed 13-year-old narrator of Pearson's (The Secret Box) often obvious novel is both excited and wary about visiting her best friend in San Francisco. Maddie is afraid that loyal, adorably klutzy Beanie may have changed in the year since her family left La Grange, Ill., but actually, it is Beanie's ""tough, crazy"" older brother, Buddy, who has seemingly turned over a new leaf. Maddie quickly becomes infatuated with the ""new"" all-too-charming Buddy. But is he still a scoundrel at heart, as his sister claims? Readers will predict the answer fairly rapidly, but Maddie's discovery about deceptive outer appearances is contrived and frustratingly drawn-out. Piecing together a semi-blocked memory of Buddy's cruel treatment of his pet dog, Maddie eventually sees Buddy for who he really is. When Beanie nearly drowns, Buddy's cowardice and lies cap Maddie's growing suspicions that he is as reckless and irresponsible as always. The themes, regarding adolescents' idealized views of their friends and their friends' families, are pertinent but well-worn. Ages 10-14. (Nov.)