A & L Do Summer

Blazanin's sophomore novel follows inseparable 16-year-old best friends Laurel and Aspen through their madcap summer in the small town of Cottonwood Creek, Iowa. They are determined (Laurel much more so) to enter their senior year as part of the popular crowd, and Laurel, an easily bored schemer, can be something of a bad influence, getting Aspen in trouble at work and at home ("[S]ometimes Laurel's sparkle is more like a blinding glare," says Aspen.) Laurel's first idea is to pull an end-of-year prank involving pigs in the principal's office, but when a trio of bullies gets wind of the idea, the girls are quickly pulled into a summerlong web of trouble. Blazanin (Fairest of Them All) unfolds her story at a rapid clip, though the scale generally tilts toward melodrama and eccentricity (a crabby neighbor who walks her pet skunk in a stroller; several scatological mishaps) over realism; Aspen's desperate first crush on her older brother's friend should satisfy readers looking for romance. An abundance of humor and surprises keeps this novel light and summery. Ages 12%E2%80%93up. (May)