Shalom, Geneva, Peace

Eighth grader Andi Applebaum has just been pigeonholed as a brain by her preppy new classmates at the Barth Academy (``They were all tall,'' Andi says, ``with the kind of skin that made me vow to drink more milk''). But she is spared the fate of the social pariah when 14-year-old sophisticate Geneva Peace notices her in their class at the local temple. Geneva courts Andi with tales of her heartless, slatternly young stepmother and goads the overprotected girl into exploring new fields--some innocent (yoga), some not (driving Geneva's father's car). Enter a cute young rabbinic intern (he sports a ponytail and handmade yarmulkes, and invites the students to call him R.J., short for Rabbi Jeff), and both girls are due for a sentimental education. Shalant's carefully and delicately developed story line uses believable episodes to reveal the seemingly independent Geneva's deep neediness and to score a few points about Andi's own self-sufficiency. With her unusual ear for dialogue and her refusal to draw overt conclusions, Shalant will win her readers' attention--and sympathy. A definite cut above the genre. Ages 12-up. (June)