APRIL UPSTAIRS; DARCY DOWNSTAIRS

In the first of these companion titles, April moves into the top half of a house where her cousin Darcy already lives, and enters exclusive Fairfield Academy. While attempting to become a writer for the school paper, April ""scoops"" larger newspapers when she happens to interview a rock star involved in famine relief just before his plane goes down. The ensuing publicity upsets her, until Darcy's older sister Isabelle steps in. In the second book, Darcy's other friends are jealous of the time she spends with April; to make it up to them, Darcy and April decide to throw a party so that friends from both schools can meet. During the week of planning and execution, however, Darcy's disasters with schoolwork lead her to a first-time cheating offense. She makes amends to all parties and is let off lightly. The pointless dialogue and featherweight plots here will disappoint fans of Pfeffer's grittier books (The Year Without Michael, 1988). Indistinct, clumsy, and--a cardinal sin for formula fiction--dull.