POLITICAL TIMBER

The prospect of a blissful senior year darkens for a teenager when he's swept into the local political arena. With best bud Mosi, a one-man garage band, and Sweaty Betty, ``the most excellent girl since the beginning of girls,'' by his side, it looks like smooth sailing for Gordie—especially after Fins Foley, his ex-mayor grandpa, currently serving five-to-fifteen for racketeering, loans him a pristine 1963 Studebaker Gran Tourismo convertible. There's a price for those wheels: As a ploy to scare Fins's chosen successor back into line, Gordie enters the primary mayoral election. Hilarious complications ensue, as Gordie unwisely joins sleazy radio talk-jock Mad Matt Baker on the air, runs for senior class president, and sees his every ill-considered utterance instantly leaked to a rabid press. Beneath the belly-laughs and blipped one-liners, Lynch goes easy on his cast: The caricatures are relatively gentle; Gordie's friends may not be mental giants, but they are caring; and Gordie doesn't fumble the important passes. The mood becomes more earnest toward the end, as Gordie realizes that the campaign was just a way of easing Fins into retirement. The satire has a nip, but it's not as savage as Lynch's Blue-Eyed Son trilogy (Mick, 1996, etc.). (Fiction. 12-15)