FICTION : IT’S AN AARDVARK-EAT-TURTLE WORLD by Paul Danziger (Delacorte: $12.95; ages 9-13).

The complexities of being the child of an interracial marriage are compounded for Rosie, when her mother falls in love with Rosie’s best friend’s father. When the adults set up housekeeping together, the two best friends become sisters of a sort; not really step-sisters, but more than friends. Paul Danziger’s new novel is suggested by the publisher for ages 12 and up, but the simplicity of language and concept and the groan-producing puns and jokes should attract a younger audience. Rosie and her best friends are on opposite ends of the tidiness spectrum, Rosie and her new boyfriend are verbally attacked for interracial dating, and kissing is the raciest this book gets; nothing an under-12 reader can’t handle.