My Own Worst Enemy

After Mr. Belkin loses his job and the family moves to a new city, everyone in the Belkin household is busy ""turning over a new leaf,"" as Mr. Belkin would say. Mrs. Belkin returns to work in a job which requires a lot of travel; Mr. Belkin becomes a ""househusband""; and daughter Eve--former loud-mouthed cynic--has decided to become a ""normal"" teen (""polite, cheerful, and easy to get along with""). It is not difficult for Eve to change her appearance by trading in her bleach-stained sweatshirts and torn red sneakers for more conventional clothes and ""(gasp) quasi-chunky black oxfords,"" but can she control her sharp tongue long enough to win popularity at her new middle school? The answer lies ahead as Eve pertly recounts her and her family's adjustments to different lifestyles. ""Disguised"" as a ""normal"" girl, Eve strategically slides into snobby Lisle (rhymes with weasel) Penfield's clique, yet in order to stay there, the eighth grader must do more than reinvent herself. She embellishes her parents' careers and even pretends to live in a different house (her own is a wreck, thanks to Mr. Belkin's apathetic housekeeping and never-ending do-it-yourself projects). As expected, Eve eventually gets caught in her lies, but instead of causing disaster, the truth sets her free. While Sonenklar's (Bug Boy) moral about being true to yourself is well-worn, her satirical execution of it is fresh, frank and entertaining. Ages 10-up. (May)