TALES FROM THE HOMEPLACE

Texas in the 1930s is the setting for the eight episodes that make up this book. The central character, Irene Hutto, 12, is based on Burandt's mother and her life on the family cotton farm. Her ``adventures,'' most of which aren't very adventurous at all, range from having a neighbor boy put a dead mouse down the back of her blouse and racing the family mule team, to riding her horse to school, helping Mama with the cooking and baking, and visiting her grandparents. While the stories do give some idea of rural life in the past, there is almost no character development. Even though Burandt's enthusiasm for her subject comes through, readers end up knowing little about Irene and the rest of these stories' inhabitants. Marginal. (Fiction. 8-12)