MONET'S GHOST

Monet's Ghost (151 pp.; $17.00; Jun. 1, 1997; 0-689-80732-5): More fantasy from Yarbro (for adults, Writ in Blood, p. 686, etc.), this time about a teenager who transports herself inside Monet's Water Lilies. Geena's gift for slipping ``sideways'' into museum paintings becomes a burden when she enters Monet's masterpiece and cannot get out. There she encounters the priggish Crispin and his aunt, Lucrece, and learns that a ``ghost'' haunts their castle, changing their clothing, buildings, hair, and landscapes on a whim. Geena, in an attempt to find her way out of the painting and learn more about the ghost, meets Monet and asks him to paint her an exit. Yarbro tosses out many intriguing ideas and dwells on none for long; the playful proposition—that an art-lover can put herself into the paintings, literally as well as figuratively—may lure readers in, but will not hold them. (b&w illustrations) (Fiction. 11-13)