Three girls with contrasting personalities and problems are good seventh grade friends. Main character Stephanie is a compulsive eater whose brother worries about nuclear war and whose parents' marriage is ending; Rachel is a gifted musician and credit card shopper; and Alison is an adopted Vietnamese girl with a celebrity parent. Blume's snappy dialogue incorporates contemporary details of upper middle class life so well that the plot and character contrivances probably show only to adult readers. She integrates elements of sexuality common to middle schoolers with even greater finesse than in her earlier books. Her adult characters are sympathetically presented. The theme is important: avoidance of reality does not alter it. (Ages 11-13)