Sort of Sisters

In this breezy series opener, 17-year-old Sarah Gordon and her pals from Murphy High spend much of their free time hanging out at 18 Pine St., the local pizza parlor. When Sarah's cousin Tasha arrives from California to live with the Gordons, she fits right into the scene. Sarah becomes jealous of Tasha's quick assimilation and begins to question her cousin's motives when Tasha becomes especially chummy with a boy Sarah has a crush on. Johnson's first outing is unabashedly light fare, typically revolving around talk of clothes, dates and school activities. However, the hook here may prove irresistible for many readers--the characters are predominantly middle-class African Americans--rarely depicted in contemporary YA fiction. The cast's ethnic makeup also allows for the occasional mention of weightier topics such as racism and civil rights. Although the characterizations seem a bit stiff and too good to be true (everyone is beautiful, kind, well-dressed and smart) Sarah and her chums possess enough idiosyncrasies to hint at more solid footing to come. This welcome effort nicely fills a void in the fiction market. Ages 12-up. (Sept.)