The Great Dad Disaster - Softcover

Grade 5-7-In this sequel to The Great Mom Swap (Bantam, 1986), best friends Scotti and Lorna, both eighth graders, are having boy trouble. When Cary Calheim asks Scotti for a date on the same day that Mike Kilpatrick asks Lorna out, both girls are ecstatic. But Scotti's overprotective dad has no trust in Cary's good intentions, and Lorna's father, on the other hand, is not protective enough. Meanwhile, both girls feel that their friendship is suffering because of their new relationships. To make matters worse, neither one feels confident of her ability to "keep" her boyfriend. Lorna is willing to take the risk that Mike will go too far physically, simply because she fears losing him to another girl. And Scotti goes for a ride in Cary's car against her better judgment, because she thinks he will dump her if she doesn't. Everything works out in the end; both girls tell the truth about their feelings and keep their boyfriends. A lighthearted and fun selection-perfect for the beach while mom reads Danielle Steele.
Lynn Cockett, Nutley Public Library, NJ
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The Sturm und Drang of adolescent dating fuels this entertaining but anachronistic tale about eighth graders Scotti Wheeler and Lorna Markham, best friends who are continuously challenged by the whims of irritating fathers and clueless boyfriends. Scotti's beau, Cary Calheim, is perpetually preoccupied with rebuilding an old Mustang; Scotti's dad will barely let her out of the house. Lorna, meanwhile, has a permissive if embarrassingly jocular father, but her main squeeze, an athletic hunk named Mike Kilpatrick, has making out and maybe more on his mind. Haynes, who tackled the girls' problems with the maternal half of the parent equation in The Great Mom Swap (scheduled for simultaneous reissue), has a fine ear for dialogue, and she captures the ups and downs of teenage friendship and the school caste system with accuracy. But the novel could also use a few injections of reality--while the author does hint briefly and vaguely at such problems as drugs and teenage sex, her squeaky-clean, '50s-innocent saga is frequently naive. Ages 9-12.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.