CHILDREN'S EXPRESS

Starring Winston Egbert

Author: Francine Pascal.

Pages: 74.

Price: $2.75.

Publisher: Bantam Skylark.

Starring Winston Egbert, No. 13 in the Sweet Valley Kids series, is an entertaining book about a group of second-graders in Sweet Valley, Calif.

The book tells the story of how Jessica Wakefield reacts when Winston Egbert gets the starring role in the Thanksgiving Day program.

The way Winston acted after being named the Indian chief made some of the actors in the play mad, including Jessica. She got so mad that she started mimicking Winston by bossing people around. Then Winston got mad.

This book is very exciting because of the way the kids handle their problems, which is different from the way most people would handle a problem like this. Here is how Jessica acts when Winston starts bossing her around:

"When the two girls arrived at the auditorium they were greeted by a familiar voice. `Hey, Jessica!' Winston shouted. `Why aren't you with the other Indians?'

Jessica turned around and looked at Winston. `Hey, Jessica! Why aren't you with the other Indians?' she repeated, making her voice sound just like Winston's. Winston stared at her in surprise.

Jessica then pushed on the backs of her ears so they stuck out, and she mimicked Winston's bossy voice again. `We share this corn with you. It is good,' she said loudly.

Some of the other boys and girls looked at her. Lila giggled. `What are you doing, Jessica?'

`She's pretending to be Winston,' Amy said with a laugh.

`Cut it out, Jessica,' Winston said. His face was red."

While reading the book, I kept wondering what would happen to Winston and his attitude, which made this book more interesting.

Since this series was made especially for younger readers and it was written about second-graders, I think that second- graders should read this book. They can really relate to the characters and the plot.