MY FABULOUS NEW LIFE

The summer before sixth grade, Alison is experiencing first- degree culture shock. Her parents' rising fortunes have snatched the family from a pristine suburb and placed them, untrained and unwitting, amid Manhattan's urban chaos. Alison tries to be upbeat, to make new friends, to get involved in citified projects, but her vulnerability is apparent throughout. She scares her mother by leaving the apartment without notice, vainly tries to convince her little sister that their new life is ``wonderful,'' and witnesses her mother's eventual admission that adjusting is also hard on the adults. Alison and her new friends sound far too old for their ages, and Greenwald embeds in the story a mostly stereotypical view of the suburbs, the city, and wealth; finally, there's a Bringing Up Baby-like denouement to ensure that the family—at the mercy of a co-op board—isn't kicked out. Lively characters, even precocious ones, can't make up for the false steps in this disappointing offering. (Fiction. 9-12)