The Luckiest Girl in the World

As he did in 1978's The Best Little Girl in the World, psychotherapist Levenkron tells a simple fictional tale to illustrate a real-world problem that afflicts millions of adolescent girls. The protagonist of The Best Little Girl suffered from anorexia. Here, 15-year-old Katie Roskova is a compulsive self-mutilator, or ""cutter."" Katie is beautiful, poised and highly intelligent. A successful competition figure skater with a scholarship to an exclusive prep school, she's driven by her own fear of failure and by her relentlessly ambitious mother. Behind Katie's winning stage smile lurks an anxiety that she can relieve only by cutting herself until she draws blood. Though Katie has practiced self-mutilation since she was 13, her problem has remained undetected. But now her mental health is quickly deteriorating, and alert school administrators detect a cry for help. Levenkron's prose and plot are simplistic, offering less complexity than a good YA novel. His story never aspires to be anything but an instrument for raising an issue. This Levenkron does ably, squarely confronting and clarifying a problem with a minimum of sentimentality. (Mar.)