The search for one's identity—the "Who is the real me?" syndrome—is such a well thumbed theme that it takes a good deal of novelty to make it seem fresh. In "Millie's Boy," Robert Newton Peck has thrown such a set of problems at his hero that simply to survive them is a feat of no mean proportions; the question of who he is becomes secondary, and the result is an adventure story rather than a genealogical one. This is probably just as well, because the final answer is too logical to be exciting….

The love interest is provided by Fern's niece, Amy Hallow. She has a scene with Tit, during which he tries to find a feather that got down the back of her nightgown during a pillow fight, which may rank as one of the funnier semierotic scenes in juvenile fiction. Nothing happens, but you...