TO SHAKE A SHADOW

Dad is indicted for income tax evasion and ninth grader Brad Willson, always from the right side of the river, becomes an instant outsider. He makes friends with a Jew and his archaically stereotyped family, considers joining up with the malicious Skids gang, finally is reconciled with his father through talks with the guidance counselor, anger at his intransigent older brother, confrontation with the gang (but not before rebelliously stealing from the school and smashing his brother's car). Transparently obvious—a page torn from a caseworker's notebook, the characters immaterial and almost irrelevant.