cover image Too Much T.J.

Too Much T.J.

Jacqueline Shannon. Delacorte Press, $0 (159pp) ISBN 978-0-385-29482-9

Razz Rocheleau is in the middle of a teen girl's dream-come-truethe biggest catch of Pacific Beach High, T.J., seems to be falling for her. Despite his love-'em-and-leave-'em reputation, Razz thinks T.J. will change for her. Then she ges some big newsher mother is marrying T.J.'s father, and Razz will be bunking down in the bedroom next to his. Razz is glad, but T.J. has predictably moved on to the next girl. And her problems are complicated further when T.J.'s overbearing father keeps holding Razz up as a model of perfection, and hounds T.J. for minor infractions of household rules. Razz knows that she can help set the score straight for T.J., but doesn't do so, out of anger at T.J.'s fickle behavior. Finally Razz decides that T.J. is worth defendingit's better to have him as a brother forever, than as a boyfriend with wanderlust. Shannon plays with changing family relationships deftly, catching every nuance with just the right touch. This Honorable Mention winner in Delacorte's First Young Adult Novel contest is a persuasive familial comedy of the '80s. (12-up)