title: Meeting Melanie
author:  Nancy Garden 
description: Two girls, one working-class and the other wealthy, become friends in Garden's (Annie on My Mind; Holly's Secret) uncharacteristically simplistic novel. Told from the perspective of 11-year-old Allie Ward, the story takes place over one summer on quaint Seal Island, Maine, where Melanie Rochambeau's father has just inherited his mother's elegant vacation house. Characterizations run very thin, at times approaching stereotype. While old-moneyed Mr. Rochambeau takes after his mother in his respect for the locals, Mrs. Rochambeau is a snob and doesn't want Melanie to play with Allie, even though the girls like each other instantly. Allie's family, on the other hand, is salt of the earth Ma, who cleans the Rochambeau house, is "never so tired that she didn't have a smile on her face or a squeeze or a cuddle for any of [her children]"; lobsterman Daddy always has words of wisdom for his "Sweet Allie." The contrast between the families is thrown into relief when Melanie divulges that her older unwed sister, Mary Scarlett, is pregnant, and rather than encouraging her to marry the "foreign... not suitable" father, Mrs. Rochambeau plans to have the baby adopted; Allie vows to help Mary Scarlett run away. Despite Allie's intelligence and resourcefulness, however, she can't make sense of the mysterious goings-on at an abandoned shack, which most readers will easily connect to a scheme involving Mary Scarlett. There's enough local color to hold the audience, but not enough emotional depth to give the story an afterlife. Ages 10-up.<br />Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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  ## The Perfect Neighbor
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Nora Roberts
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Chapter One
  
  
  
  
  
  ### "So… have you talked to him yet?"  
  
  
  
  
  
  "Hmm?" Cybil Campbell continued to work at her drawing board, diligently
  sectioning off the paper with the skill of long habit. "Who am I talking to?"
  
  
  
  
  
  There was a long and gusty sigh—one that had Cybil fighting to keep her lips
  from twitching. She knew her first-floor neighbor Jody Myers well—and
  understood exactly what him she was referring to.
  
  
  
  
  
  "The gorgeous Mr. Mysterious in 3B, Cyb. Come on, he moved in a week ago and
  hasn't said a word to anyone. But you're right across the hall. We need some
  details here."
  
  
  
  
  
  "I've been pretty busy." Cybil flicked a glance up, watching Jody, with her
  expressive brown eyes and mop of dusky-blond hair, energetically pace around
  the studio. "Hardly noticed him."
  
  
  
  
  
  Jody's first response was a snort. "Get real. You notice everything."
  