LIVING WITH MY STEPFATHER IS LIKE LIVING WITH A MOOSE

Matt's new stepfather, Frank, is clumsy and uncoordinated, an embarrassment to athletic Matt, whose mother keeps pushing them into joint activities. Matt's friends find Frank friendly, but Matt remains steadfast in his determination to avoid a father-son softball game that he fears will be the ultimate humiliation. Then, during a trip to band birds with Frank, Matt finds reasons to reevaluate his position. There's a low believability factor from beginning to end, with unlikable characters throughout: Matt is mulish, and his change of heart is less convincing than his well-established stubbornness; his mother appears needlessly domineering; the oafish Frank is rarely more than a cipher. Black-and-white cartoonish illustrations match the simplicities of the plot, reinforcing the notion that these are stock types, loafing through a TV sitcom. (Fiction. 8- 11)