EMILY AT SCHOOL

Emily at School ($13.95; paper $3.95; Sept. 1996; 48 pp.; 0- 7868-0149-2; paper 0-7868-1133-1): In this entry in the Chapters series, Emily is starting second grade and facing some typical problems, each handled in one of three chapters: one about a disagreeable new boy, another about a bad mark on a paper instead of the star she expected, and the third, in which her friends don't go along with what she wants to play. This book has a reading level only slightly more difficult than most I-Can-Read books, without any of their flash or spark. The mild stories, inadequately plotted and blandly resolved, don't command the attention of readers, and won't satisfy those making their first forays into novel-length books. (b&w illustrations, not seen) (Fiction. 6-8)