Judy Chernak (Children's Literature)
An "outsider" from Denver stirs up decidedly unfriendly reactions amongst the residents of a Bible Belt town when she stands up for her religious beliefs. Pazit Trujillo has moved in with her father and stepmother for her freshman year of high school. Neither her dark hair, casual style of dress, nor Jewish faith are accepted by the tall, blue-eyed-blonde, church-going students. Her excellence in the flute gets her into the top-notch marching band; but when their program for the competition is composed of only Christian hymns and resolves into the formation of a cross, she decides to stand on the sidelines to play and finds herself in the middle of a civil rights battle. Only Billy Harper, the boy whom she met shortly after her arrival and who was fascinated with her exotic strangeness, stands up for her, much to his own surprise and despite the fury of his parents. Well-written dialogue in this engrossing story with an easily digested moral. 1995, Gulliver Books/Harcourt Brace, $11.00 and $5.00. Ages 10 to 14.

Michaeline Chance-Reay (The ALAN Review, Spring 1996 (Vol. 23, No. 3))
When Pazit Trujillo moves to the little hamlet of Jericho, after spending a year in Israel, the town undergoes a test of religious freedom. She joins the prize-winning band to play the flute and make new friends but, in an attempt to be true to her beliefs, turns into the focal point of a crisis. Billy Harper, fellow band member and admirer, emerges as the novel's idealistic, clear-thinking hero when he becomes Pazit's champion (much to the consternation of his family and friends). In the end, both lives are changed and linked forever by what transpires. Enough issues remain unresolved to warrant a sequel, by the author or student readers, exploring life after high school for these two young people from diverse backgrounds who are so drawn to one another. Carolyn Meyer illustrates how much children and adults take for granted when they live in a fairly homogeneous community and how defensive they can become when rhetoric collides with reality. Her well-drawn characters and credible dialogue make this story more than a morality play for teens who routinely experience both the mundane and the dramatic in their own school setting. 1995, Harcourt Brace, 308 pp., $11.00. Ages 12 up.

Roger Sutton (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, April 1995 (Vol. 48, No. 8))
Pazit Trujillo, new girl and only Jew in the vaguely situated town of Jericho, can handle, just, participating in the school band's medley of Christian hymns, but when the director announces that the band's steps will culminate in the form of a huge cross moving across the football field, she refuses to march. Following in the steps of Lasky's Memoirs of a Bookbat (BCCB 4/94) and Peck's The Last Safe Place on Earth (2/95), this novel pits the good guys against the fundamentalists, and it's hardly a fair fight. Pazit's father goes ballistic and calls the local ACLU, the issue becomes headline news, the other band members harass Pazit with whispers of "Jew bitch" in the hallways and leave a gift-wrapped dead rat on her doorstep. Only Billy, scared of losing his friends, but knowing what's right, stands up for her-literally, in the obligatory school board meeting scene, where the "Christians" shout their slogans and hiss "the other side" as represented by Pazit's stepmother, a hippie-ish potter who, along with the wise black school nurse, delivers the Message in case readers couldn't figure it out on their own. Narrated from Pazit's and Billy's points-of-view in alternating chapters, the book is suspenseful but fundamentally unrealistic in its calculated setup, and while Pazit and Billy are themselves sturdy enough characters, they're awash in a sea of stereotypes. M--Marginal book that is so slight in content or has so many weaknesses in style or format that it should be given careful consideration before purchase. Reviewed from galleys (c) Copyright 1995, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 1995, Gulliver/Harcourt, [336p], $5.00 and $11.00. Grades 7-10.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, 1995)
This Jericho -- a small Bible Belt town -- seems to be inhabited exclusively by overzealous Christians who cannot understand why newcomer Pazit, who is Jewish, objects to the high school marching band's forming a cross in their routine. Only one person, a classmate named Billy, takes her side. The inevitable conflict between Pazit and the community drives the fast-moving plot to its predictable, but realistic, conclusion. Category: Fiction. 1995, Harcourt, 308pp.. Ages 14 to 18. Rating: 4: Recommended, with minor flaws.