Cosmos Coyote and Willia

When 17-year-old Cosmos De Haag gets threatened with six months in ""juvie"", his father feels that the only option is for him to spend senior year away from his hometown outside Seattle, and live with relatives in a religious farming community in Iowa. With trepidation he leaves behind his fledging rock band, the OughtaBs, and his girlfriend, Salal, for wide-open spaces, cow-dung and Dutch Center Christian Academy. To fit in, he swaps the rebellious persona of Cosmos Coyote for that of William the Nice. Then he meets beautiful and devout Cherlyn Van Dyke, Miss Popularity, who seems bent on saving him. Just when things are going well, a string of thefts occur and all fingers point to Cosmos. Simultaneously, Cherlyn's father attempts to curtail the blossoming romance between Cherlyn and Cosmos by forbidding her to be seen with him. While it's refreshing to see Christian faith represented without piety or dogma, Heynen's (Being Youngest) story is burdened with over-the-top romance: upon gazing at a star-filled sky, Cosmos gushes, ""There's more sparkle in your smile than in the stars. There's more light in your eyes than in the moon,"" and Cherlyn responds ""Let's go slowly More like the moon than a shooting star."" Some racy (though fully clothed) scenes may keep readers involved, but in the end, despite a number of close calls, the conflicts fail to reach a satisfying pitch; everything smoothly resolves itself. Ages 14-up. (June)