Here's a peek at some of what's on the family-room bookshelf:
"The Girl Who Invented Romance" (Random House, $8.95) by Caroline B. Cooney. Kelly is 16 and is forever filling out quizzes about romance, although she has never had a boyfriend. Her best friend, Faith, tells her it is time to change that and start dating. Faith makes up a game of chance. Square one is smile at a boy. Square two is make sure he knows you've noticed him. Square three is talk to him. Square four is to sit next to him in sociology class. They laugh about it and then go on to do other girl things. Kelly decides to actually design the game and call it Romance, The Game of Love. At the same time, she gets asked on a real date. There is also a real pull-out board game and playing cards. Ages 10 and older.
"Professor Angelicus Visits the Big Blue Ball" (MumbleFish Books, $19.95) by L.B.B. Ward. On the first day of spring, Zak takes his dog Ziggy fishing. They are meeting their friend Ivy. Instead of a fishing pole, she brings a bottle of bubbles. She says the bottle are magic.
Then suddenly a giant bubble appears in the sky and starts to spin. Then the bubble hits the ground, and a creature stands in front of the children. He tells them he is Professor Aquius Botanicus Angelicus of Quantia. He has come to the big blue ball planet called Earth looking for clean water. His bubble has run out of water for fuel, and he is trying to get home in time for the Rainbow Festival. He hopes they can help. They agree, and he takes them up in the bubble in search of clean water. The professor takes them on a trip in his bubble to experience the universe, the stars, the sea, the rain forest and finally to the ice world in search of clean water. They learn all about the environment. Ages 8 and older.
"Andrew Lost #10" (Random House, $3.99), by J.C. Greenburg, is the second of four books in this adventure series about Andrew, Judy, his 13-year-old sister, their robot Thudd and Uncle Al, who invented Thudd as well as a Time-A-Tron time-travel machine. In this book, Uncle Al is kidnapped and taken to the ice age. The kids and the robot get in the Time-A-Tron to rescue him. Andrew spills his fudge on the fast-back button and they go back in time to when the Earth was just forming, more than 4 billion years ago. They keep trying to get the fast-forward button to work. Finally it moves forward and stops at 350 million years ago.. They dock the ship, get out and walk around. Suddenly there is an earthquake. The Time-A-Tron starts moving away from them. Will they be lost in time? Ages 7-9.
