cover image Arianna and Me

Arianna and Me

Lois I. Fisher. Dodd Mead, $9.95 (160pp) ISBN 978-0-396-08777-9

Fisher's previous novelsRachel Villars, How Could You et al.top this tale although the author gives a new twist to the familiar theme of sibling envy. At 13, Mary ""Rusty'' McClintock feels put upon at home where her parents dote on bright, mischievous Arianna, Rusty's two-year-old sister. The older girl's school days are also trying. She has to take needlework, which she hates, but the encouragement from a good teacher interests Rusty in the craft, and she works hard to crochet a hat. Then Nasty Neal and his mean cousin Debbie destroy the hat, and Rusty fails the course. The story has several other complications, untangled satisfactorily before the conclusion. Although Fisher's swift and pungent dialogue moves the story along, her use of some tired images is a minus: the old spinach-caught-in-the-front-teeth embarrassment for one and ``being in a little trouble is like being a little pregnant,'' as Rusty's mother tells her. (9-up)