Beach Browsing : Summertime . . . and the Reading Is Easy

July 06, 1986|Jack Miles | Times Book Editor

The Very Last Virgin at Hoebeck High, Grace Williams (New American Library: $2.50). Sex--or the lack of it--has 16-year-old Annie Galvin over a barrel. The way she figures it, she's the only virgin at Hoebeck High School. That prospect chills her to the bone. To lose her dubious status, she embarks on an odd quest that leads her through encounters with birth-control pills, sexy underwear, the school stud, jealousy, drugs, booze, parties, fights, love, pettiness and pain. While all this may sound like a questionable premise for a young-adult novel, rest assured that, in the end, Annie has her morals straight. But this is a novel in which the journey is far more important than the destination, so to merely state that everything ends happily would be to miss all the fun of Annie's misadventures and the charm of her personality. Yes, virginity, there is still room for you in this world.

The Eyes of the Amaryllis, Natalie Babbitt (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $3.45). This skillfully written short novel requires an adult to introduce it to young people who do not ordinarily choose novels of its subject and theme. A 19th-Century seaside cottage is the setting for this fantasy about the supernatural. The complex plot pivots around a conflict of wills between a young girl's grandmother, a ghost and the sea. Introduce a young person to this outstanding writer by first reading aloud together her classic "Tuck Everlasting." If a child becomes enthralled with that more attractive novel, then suggest "Eyes of the Amaryllis," recently reissued in paperback. The story makes pleasurable summer reading with memorable characters and theme.

Sirens and Spies, Janet Taylor Lisle (Berkley Pacer Books: $2.50). Life is a mystery. Unlocking the answers requires asking the right questions, not leaping to conclusions. Those are the lessons learned by Mary and Elsie Potter when their neighbor, Miss Fitch, is found in her house with a nasty head injury. Did someone attack her? Or did she fall and hit her head? Elsie thinks she knows what happened. She finds peace only after sharing her theories with Mary, who then confronts Miss Fitch with them. The girls are relieved to find that appearances can be deceiving. A thought-provoking novel of self-discovery fueled over and over by the realization that there are two sides to every story.