Tiffany Sly Lives Here Now

Gr 7 Up—Sixteen-year-old Tiffany Sly's mother has just died of cancer when she's sent from Chicago to Simi Valley, CA, to live with a father she's never met. At her massive new home, she's greeted by a white stepmother and four half-sisters because Dr. Anthony Stone's away on a medical emergency. Anthony arrives for dinner, surprising Tiffany with his light skin—so unlike her own. He proves to be an unbending disciplinarian about hair, phones, relationships, religion, even mental illness. At her elite new school, students assume Tiffany must be a scholarship student. Within days, she's become buddies with the school's pariah, broken her sister's (secret) boyfriend's nose, twisted her ankle, and started her own nonprofit. And by week's end, another father appears demanding a paternity test. Debut author Davis narrates, embodying teenage angst exactly, although she's less convincing as the saintly stepmother, overly precious toddler sister, and wise-beyond-his-youth neighbor Marcus.