Sylvia Smith-Smith

She's starred in her own short stories in Seventeen magazine, but this is Sylvia Smith-Smith's first full-length feature roleand she was born to it. Hip, cool, sensible to a fault, Sylvia constantly gets herself in and out of hot spots that would slay other teenage heroines. Each chapter reads like a short story, but there are related themes: the separation and pending divorce of her parents; her striving to be ""normal'' (she's aware that others have had a harder time with adolescence than she); her unconventional dates (she goes to the prom with a married man, finds a potential kindred spirit at computer camp and hooks up with a punk-rocker at the mall who pretends to be a disaffected member of society). This story is perfect for readers who demand a change of pace from formula romances. Ages 12-up. (September)