B.J.'S BILLION-DOLLAR BET
by Julie Anne Peters & illustrated by Cynthia Fisher
From the author of The Stinky Sneakers Contest (1992), another Springboard Book featuring ordinary kids and their extraordinary mishaps. B.J.'s Mom has won the lottery but can't find the ticket. While she searches frantically, B.J. tries to get it back: He has secretly traded it to Mavis Mae. Since his friend's mom has now forbidden trading, B.J. makes a series of bets with her, losing precious possessions (including some not his own) to no avail; meanwhile, rather implausibly, he prevents Mavis Mae from learning the winning number. In the end, the ticket is destroyed in a suitably ironic manner and there's a homily about how ``Gambling makes you crazy''—as applied explicitly to B.J., but not to his mom's lottery habit. Entertaining light fare. (Fiction/Young reader. 7-10)