THIS PLACE HAS NO ATMOSPHERE

This new novel by the popular Danziger features a heroine who lives in the year 2057 but whose problems will seem familiar to today's teens. Aurora Williams, 15 and a sophomore, is in the right crowd with the right best friend, and even has a date for the big dance with the right boy. When her parents announce that they are joining a colony on the moon, she is devastated and considers every option, from pregnancy to being nice to her sister to escape. Dragged sulkily to her new home, having wrung from her parents the promise of a return to earth after a year, she begins a reluctant adjustment and, of course, finds that the kids on the moon are not as bad as she thought they'd be, that there are values beyond the ones she's held so dear, and that she'd like to stay after all. An understanding friendship with a boy helps. A Danziger book is rarely distinguished by plot, characterization or literary style. She does hone in, unerringly, on the concerns of her audience, using a style that rat-tats out wisecracks—not great, but funny and on the mark. Her audiences will not be disappointed.