Somewhere Green

Bryony, 16, has a lot of adjusting to do, having recently moved from a small rural town to a crumbling brownstone in Brooklyn. Additionally, her parents are off on an extended anthropological project in the Amazon. She is left to cope in the sweltering summer heat in a ethnically mixed neighborhood with a dreamily preoccupied older sister, a curious and not yet street-wise younger brother and a new housekeeper who quits ahead of schedule. Household chores are only one set of problemsthreatening gangs and muggings are another. A new Puerto Rican friend awakens feelings of sexuality in Bryony, and that adds to her general confusion. Mango's strong characterizations, particularly the complex Bryony, are evocative and revealing. The contrasting ""types'' that make up a big-city neighborhood are wonderfully drawn, providing a rich backdrop for this story. Ages 10-14. (October)