Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $16

Review by Nancy Matson

October 19, 1999
Web posted at: 12:42 p.m. EDT (1642 GMT)

(CNN) -- If you're looking for a novel about growing up that incorporates a minimal amount of pre-teen angst, look no further than Claudia Mills' "You're a Brave Man, Julius Zimmerman." Young Julius struggles with his 6th grade summer goals, mostly suggested by his mother, which include age-appropriate reading, increased personal responsibility through babysitting toddler Edison Blue, and conquering French in his Intensive Summer Language Learning class.

Since Julius isn't quite as productive as his more driven mother, his weekly goals begin with such lofty ones from her as "do 10 pages in the Sixth-Grade Math Review Workbook" but quickly devolve into more damage control-based ones from Julius like "Get Edison Blue to stop throwing sand." Julius knows his mother would love to have a son who spent his time reading classics like "A Tale of Two Cities" and thinking intellectual thoughts. Instead, she ended up with a kid for whom getting through the day without a major screw-up requires a monumental effort.

"You're a Brave Man" strikes the familiar themes of growing up. Living up to parents' expectations, negotiating the awkwardness of dealing with the opposite sex, and handling bullies are all the stuff of Julius' -- and many children's -- everyday lives. Any 12-year-old will be able to relate to Julius' growing affection for the beautiful and talented Octavia Aldridge, a twelve-year-old who looks sixteen and has gotten every acting role she's ever sought. And who hasn't experienced the kind of humiliation that Julius does in class when Madame Cowper keeps him after class to practice the hokey pokey in French, while the rest of his classmates observe from outside?

Julius isn't the class brain, hasn't got a shred of acting talent, and is filled with anxiety over the prospect of changing a diaper -- but he really does try. In other words, he's like most kids, and that's why readers will relate to him. When Julius does experience success, even if it's not in the form of all A's, the starring role in the school play, or an accomplished list of well-worn classics on his shelf, regular-kid readers might realize that they, too, might make it through adolescence.

Nancy Matson is the author of the juvenile novel "The Boy Trap," due out this fall from Front Street/Cricket Books. For information about her, visit her website at www.nancymatson.com.