GINGERBREAD

Cyd Charisse embodies the child/woman nature of adolescence as she tows her doll, Gingerbread, through life. Gingerbread was given to her by her father the last and almost only time she saw him. Readers of Francesca Lia Block will find a familiar style here, and yet a Block character is only what Cyd could wish to be. Kicked out of boarding school, Cyd returns to San Francisco failing to tell her mother about an abortion or how unsupportive the boy involved has been. She’s got some sophistication, but it mainly hides her pain and allows her to live in a dreamy fantasy world with a new boyfriend. Shrimp and his brother Wallace run a coffee stand and Cyd goes to work, but mild lusting for Wallace muddies the situation. Once Mom grounds her for violating curfew, Cyd’s hipness fades somewhat. Loving parents, her mother and stepfather decide to see what her birth father in New York can do for her since his wife has recently died. The considerably older half brother welcomes Cyd, and he and his partner put her to work at their bistro. Half-sister Lisbeth has a harder time accepting this unconventional member to the family, and Dad remains distant. Cyd’s appreciation of her family back home grows, as does her confidence that she is lovable and valuable. Cohn is obviously familiar with the personality of both cities and has done her homework as to trendy dialogue, although it sometimes overwhelms characters and events. In spite of the relentlessly hip talk and trimmings, this is all utterly familiar, much like the spicy yet humble dessert of the title. (Fiction. YA)