In 1980s New Jersey, a quest for teen boys’ Holy Grail

FICTION Vanna White was the pride of our nation, a small-town girl from Myrtle Beach who rocketed to fame and fortune by flipping letters in word puzzles.”

The boys aren’t old enough to buy the magazine, and Mr. Zelinsky is a fierce upholder of the rules, and so begins “Operation Vanna,” as Billy, Alf and Clark devise one plan after another to get their hands on their new Holy Grail. They pay a smoothtalking adult to buy three issues for them (he pockets their cash); they try to bluff their way past Mr. Zelinsky’s vigilance (“This isn’t a toy store,” he growls); and they let high school bad-boy Tyler Bell talk them into a roof-hopping plan to break into the shop by night. As Alf says, “Zelinsky finds some extra money in his cash register. We bring home Vanna White. It’s win-win.”

Of course, all these plans quickly go wrong, but you don’t read this novel for its plot twists. Rather, you relish the book’s countless callbacks to the 1980s: Every TV show, Hollywood star, snack food, video game, brand name and especially every song is duly name-checked to the extent that Phil Collins could demand a cut of the sales.

In the way of so many first novels, this scene-setting is drastically overdone, but the whole thing is brought off with a sweet neatness nonetheless. The only thing missing is the warm “Wonder Years” voice-over.