cover image THE BEAN KING'S DAUGHTER

THE BEAN KING'S DAUGHTER

Jennifer J. Stewart, . . Holiday, $16.95 (138pp) ISBN 978-0-8234-1644-8

At 12, Phoebe Marchant finds herself an orphan—a very wealthy orphan. Her octogenarian father's will stipulates that Phoebe live with Vicki, "last and luckiest in [a] long string of stepmothers," who will receive $10 million for her efforts. The ensuing tension among the spoiled but mostly likable child, her devoted butler and her apparently gold-digging stepmother propels the initially compelling story line. To escape the Chicago paparazzi, the trio hides out at Vicki's childhood home in Arizona, where Vicki's nobler motivations emerge and Phoebe learns some hard lessons about herself. Stewart (If That Breathes Fire, We're Toast!) touches upon the dark side of wealth and the falsity of first impressions with humor and geniality. But halfway through, her plot loses steam, the characters' motivations become fuzzy and the writing turns slipshod. Readers who plug away at this increasingly farfetched tale will find only a maudlin ending. Ages 8-12. (June)