A fourteen-year-old Jewish girl goes to live with her father and stepmother in a small town and soon finds herself the center of a civil rights battle when she objects to the high school band marching in the formation of a cross. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Meyer (Rio Grande Stories; White Lilacs) paints a bracing picture of conservative small-town America in this riveting examination of intolerance and anti-Semitism. Fresh from a year on a kibbutz and sick of endless fights with her Israeli mother, 14-year-old Pazit Trujillo opts to leave her native Denver and live with her college professor father and his young family for a school year. Little knowing what Jericho, ``the buckle of the Bible belt,'' is like, Pazit--short, dark, Jewish and nonconformist--is alone in a school full of tall blonds who take football and cheerleading as seriously as their Wednesday night prayer meetings. After Pazit refuses to be part of the school marching band's formation of a cross, Mr. Trujillo contacts the ACLU and she is unwillingly catapulted to the center of a cause celebre that has all of Jericho in an uproar. Her schoolmates' coldness turns to outright hostility, but Pazit finds an unexpected ally in the band's drummer, Billy, who ``betrays'' his town to stand up for what he believes is right. With its unflagging pace and timely theme, this provocative novel should spark much debate. Ages 12-up. (May)\Copyright 1995 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Gr 6-10--To escape constant conflicts with her mother, Pazit Trujillo, 14, leaves their home in Denver to live with her father and stepfamily in the small, predominantly Christian town of Jericho. Being the only Jewish person at Jericho High School proves to be extremely difficult for Pazit. After joining the prize-winning marching band, ironically called the Demons, she discovers that its routines revolve around Christian themes, with hymns for music and a cross as its final formation. Following her convictions, she refuses to march in the cross, choosing instead to play her flute from the sidelines. When her father calls the ACLU, Jericho, like its Biblical namesake, becomes a battlefield--a legal battlefield--and Pazit becomes the target of malicious acts and anti-Semetic slurs. Her only friend is 15-year-old drummer Billy Harper, who finally summons the courage to stand with Pazit against his own community, and who himself becomes a target of the hostilities. Meyer's characterization of most of Jericho's Christians, while unflattering, portrays one town's narrow-minded thinking and intolerance of individual differences. Like Avi's Nothing But the Truth (Orchard, 1991), Drummers of Jericho demonstrates how easily an incident can escalate when it extends beyond school walls. With its timely, thoughtful treatment of complex issues, Meyer's story is certain to spark animated discussions.Kelly Diller, Humboldt High School, Copyright 1995 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Gr. 6-9. High-schooler Pazit Trujillo is not getting along with her mother, so she leaves Denver and moves to the small town of Jericho, where her father and his new family live. Jericho is not used to Jews, and Pazit calls immediate attention to herself when she joins the marching band and objects to their formation of a cross. Her father then calls the ACLU, and all hell breaks loose. Pazit is subjected to taunts and threats, and only one boy, Billy Harper, defends her, at great cost to his own standing with his family and in the community. The book is very flawed: the worst problem is the cookie-cutter Christians, who are utterly stereotypical; the only adult who shows Pazit any sympathy is a school nurse, conveniently an African American. Then there are all the loose ends. How did Pazit's mother, an Orthodox Jew, happen to marry a Latino in the first place? And whom do the seemingly happy Professor Trujillo and his family find as friends in such a prejudiced town? Even Billy's support of Pazit is rather inexplicable. Yes, he finds her attractive; however, he barely knows her, yet risks everything for her. What the book does have going for it is its slant on religious freedom. Very few fiction books for young people look at the problem of Christian-Jewish relationships, which still produce an undercurrent of prejudice in American society. Next time though, it would be nice to see the subject treated with three-dimensional characters, not paper dolls. (Reviewed June 1 & 15, 1995)0152004416Ilene Cooper From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.