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Author! Author!

Susan Terris. Farrar Straus Giroux, $14.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-374-34995-0

Valerie Myerson, 12, is tall, dark and literary, the daughter of two respectable but short and fair-skinned bankers--leading the girl to believe she must be a changeling of some kind. After she has a children's book published, Val believes that she has found her real mother in a new friend, the exotic poet T. J. Reis. So, in an awkward and backhanded way, Val sets about finding the ``true story'' of her parentage. Navigating in the rocky waters of preadolescence, Val discovers several truths. Finally accepting her parents, she is able to see them anew in light of her experiences with love, fame, betrayal and maturation. Terris ( Nell's Quilt ) intersperses Val's quest with sections of her painfully cliched novel-in-progress, calling to mind Louise Fitzhugh's Harriet the Spy . Filled with strong personalities, this is a good read for literary-minded young adults. Ages 10-up. (Aug.)