A TRIBE FOR LEXI

An honest, tough-minded 12-year-old is the latest creation of this author of numerous novels for young people. After a peripatetic childhood with her engineer father and distant mother, Lexi looks forward to spending a few months on her aunt and uncle's farm, where she imagines she'll be part of a large, close family. Instead, she finds that she is once again an outsider; her cousins and their parents are absorbed in their own activities and have little tolerance for anyone who doesn't share their enthusiasms. But 11-year-old cousin Jeb has been as much left out as Lexi, and she soon becomes involved in his quest to join a tribe of Indians in the nearby Catskills. Though skeptical, she accompanies him on his near-disastrous journey, during which both discover the power of being true to oneself. Lexi is the strongest character here, bringing the story to its resolution with her courage and resourcefulness. Though most of the other characters (except Jeb) are vaguely drawn, they serve well enough in the context of this smoothly told, involving blend of adventure and coming-of-age story. (Fiction. 8-12)