BINGO BROWN, GYPSY LOVER

In his third appearance, the likable preteen adds a new experience—the suspenseful premature birth of a new brother—to his ongoing, but still tentative, interest in the opposite sex. Added to the comic triangle introduced in Bingo Brown and the Language of Love (1989)—friend Billy is still smitten with Cici, who continues to pursue the unwilling Bingo—is a new girl, Boots, whose persistent telephone calls follow up her embarrassing discovery of Bingo in a bookstore looking for Gypsy Lover (a title he understands his dear, faraway friend Melissa has applied to him). Bingo is still uneasy with "mixed sex" conversations; but on the rare occasions when he's allowed to telephone Melissa, he forgets she's a girl in the delight of communication. More important during this Christman season, however, is his mother's losing battle to carry her new baby to term; the story's real focus is Bingo suffering through prenatal sibling rivalry and the anxiety of a nightlong vigil with his grandmother (with realistic but largely comforting information on what's going on) while Jamie is born, then falling in love with the tiny but perfect baby through the hospital window. Though less tightly structured than the earlier Bingo books, this still engages with its deliciously concise humor and its memorable portrait of a quintessentially nice but altogether human boy. A treat for fans of both Bingo and Byars.