Though not a happily-ever-after tale, it dramatizes how one person can stand up to unfairness, be it in front of Senate hearings or in the classroom. The dialogue is sharp, carrying a good part of this story of friends and foes, guilt and courage-a story that ought to send readers off to find out more about McCarthy, his witch-hunt and the First Amendment. Cushman offers a fine sense of the times with such cultural references as President Truman, Hopalong Cassidy, Montgomery Clift, Lucky Strike, “duck and cover” and the Iron Curtain.

This is not a story about the McCarthy era so much as one about how one girl-who has been trained to be quiet and obedient by her school, family, church and culture-learns to speak up for herself. When she meets Sophie Bowman and her father, she’s encouraged to think about issues in the news: the atomic bomb, peace, communism and blacklisting. It’s 1949, and 13-year-old Francine Green lives in “the land of ‘Sit down, Francine’ and ‘Be quiet, Francine’ ” at All Saints School for Girls in Los Angeles. It is, nevertheless, a highly agreeable romantic comedy tempered with the pointed lesson (demonstrated by the straining of Bryce’s parents’ marriage) that the “choices you make now will affect you for the rest of your life.” (Fiction. The text stretches credibility in a couple of ways, especially with the premise that a seven-year-old is capable of a long-lasting romantic infatuation. Van Draanen ( Sammy Keyes and the Hollywood Mummy Mystery, 2000, etc.) deftly manages the difficult task of establishing and maintaining the reader’s sympathy with both characters. The story is told in both voices, in alternating chapters that develop from a sort of “he said, she said” dialogue into an exploration of perception, misapprehension, and context. But in their eighth-grade year, Juli’s fight to save an old tree from being cut down causes Bryce to look at Juli with growing admiration-just at the same time that Juli finally realizes that Bryce’s character does not measure up to his eyes. For her to back off-you know, just give me some space.” Six years after their meeting, Bryce is something of a judgmental priss (just like his father), and Juli is full of passion and enthusiasm for life.

It’s his eyes.” As far as Bryce is concerned, the feeling is definitely not mutual: “All I’ve ever wanted is for Juli Baker to leave me alone. Honestly, one look at him and I became a lunatic. For Juli, it is love at first sight: “The day I first met Bryce Loski, I flipped. When Bryce and Julianna (Juli) meet, they are both seven and Bryce has just moved in across the street. Proof that the course of pubescent love never runs smooth.

Flipped van draanen