Dear Mrs. Ryan, You're Ruining...

The eponymous Mrs. Ryan in Jones's light-hearted debut novel is fifth-grade narrator Harvey's mother, a children's book author who shamelessly mines his experience for her plots, then announces precisely how during visits and assemblies at his school. Hoping to distract her from writing and therefore to stave off further humiliation, Harvey and his best friend, Seal (Cecilia), play Cupid between his mother and their principal, Mr. Stevens, but then Harvey must deal with his classmates' teasing and the reality of a suitor. Harvey's voice as a baseball-mad, stamp-collecting elementary student is occasionally inconsistent, at times lapsing into old-fashioned exclamations (e.g., after considering scratching the principal's car, Harvey muses, ""How could I even think such a thing?"" and then ""Get a grip, Harvey old boy""). While the author plumbs well-worn themes of divorced parents, disappointing fathers and the discomfort of watching a parent fall in love, ultimately none of the subplots assume primary importance. The funniest moments arise when Harvey turns the tables on his scribbling mother, eyeing her every move with pen in hand and jotting down notes when she spills her coffee. However, their confrontation after his entry in a writing contest, for which she is the judge, seems belated and too neatly tied up. Ages 10-up. (Apr.)