SLATE BLUES

The premise couldn't be more enticing: Reina discovers that a mega-popular heavy-metal rock singer is her own aunt. After ``Slate'' collapses during a concert, the eighth-grader opens her bedroom and heart to the musical icon now revealed as her mother's sister Amanda. Reina actually prefers the Beach Boys to Metallica, but she accepts Amanda/Slate despite her mother's warnings; and the tension builds as she moves further from family and true friends and closer to Slate and her band. Meanwhile, the story's emotional line frequently trips over itself: Is the book about familial relationships, or Reina's longing to hang with the in-crowd? Is it about friendship or fraud? Many questions are raised; too few are answered. The effort is made more dissonant by inconsistencies (why wouldn't Reina remember her aunt if communication broke off only six years ago?) and by a disturbing dismissal of ``attention deficit disorder'' as simply a bid for most-favored status in the family. An enticing premise, but the end result hits a sour note. (Fiction. 10+)