Goodbye Emily, Hello

The author of Visiting Miss Pierce writes realistically of the changes a ``best'' friendship undergoes as the two friends grow up. Quiet Robin never really understood why outgoing Emily, a tomboy and daredevil, wanted to be friends, but they have stood by each other through elementary and junior high. As freshmen in high school, though, Emily becomes popular and abandons Robin. Robin's parents had warned her to make other friends, and now she is forced to do just that, joining clubs that she formerly would have shied away from and, for the first time in her life, making her own decisions. At the end, Emily calls Robin in need of help, and Robin responds kindly--if only to show Emily that she will help because she wants to, not because she ``has'' to. Some vengeance-minded readers might have preferred that Emily get her comeuppance. Others who come across this book--with its delicate, drawn-from-life episodes--will find Robin's newly acquired dignity encouraging. Ages 12-up. (July)