DEAR PAPA

Much like the heroine in a Shirley Temple movie, the protagonist of this first novel is pert, spunky and finger-in-the-dimple cute. Isabelle, nine years old when the story opens in 1943, writes the many letters that constitute the narrative. As the title suggests, she writes most frequently to her father, who has died of illness or, as Isabelle puts it in her first missive, "went to heaven." Initially, Isabelle describes daily life in their St. Paul, Minn., home, but as money grows tight and her mother sinks into exhaustion, Isabelle's older sisters go to one uncle's farm while Isabelle is packed off to a childless married uncle in a small town. Isabelle expands her correspondence to include her mother, siblings and a far-off aunt, all the while plotting to return home. While Ylvisaker creates humor in having Isabelle tailor her delivery of similar information to different addressees, this device also results in repetitiousness and keeps most of the characters at a distance from readers. Isabelle's voice, meanwhile, seems contrived. Telling her dead father why she has done something wrong, she adds, "If you see Jesus around there, would you please explain?" When she tries to be bad at her aunt and uncle's, the worst she can come up with is this breakfast repartee: "I'm not going to eat this darn mush without sugar! It's sour like everything else at this darn funeral home." The stakes may be too low and the storytelling too slack to sustain readers' interest. Ages 9-up. (Aug.)