JANET HAMM NEEDS A DATE FOR THE DANCE

This companion volume to Karen Kepplewhite is the World's Best Kisser takes another breezy look at preteen life. Seventh-grader Janet panics when she discovers that her two best friends have dates to her school's year-end dance. Nothing could be more humiliating than to go to the dance dateless and land in the "dog pen." Janet invents an "older man" to accompany her, and tries unsuccessfully to get her brother's best friend to fill the role. At the last minute she is saved from embarrassment when Rolf, the new boy in town, accepts her invitation. And when Rolf becomes the star of the evening with his drum performance, Janet basks happily in reflected glory. Meanwhile, Janet's mother passes through a crisis of her own, as phone calls to an answering-machine Adonis encourage her back into circulation after a post-divorce slump. Not much is new here in the way. of plot, but middle readers will latch on to this lighthearted book. The writing is smooth and the characters appealing.