Storm clouds gather but don't stand a chance in this sunny, thematically encyclopedic follow-up to Fruit Flies, Fish & Fortune Cookies (1994). Though her friend Ben moves away just before the start of seventh grade, Mary Ellen Bobowick is delighted to learn that her bosom buddy, Justine, is returning from a year in Paris. Justine is changed, though, in several worrisome ways; in the wake of her parents' separation she has become self-deprecating, especially about her nonexistent weight problem. In a story filled with subplots and modeled behavior, LeMieux offers a primer for students entering junior high: the rotating schedule, heavy-duty homework, a class in self-esteem (``Dare To Be Different!!! Dare To Be Yourself!!!''), cafeteria food, classroom politics (Mary Ellen runs for homeroom rep), first dates, first kiss. A veritable sheaf of issues are covered: nose rings, the damage fashion photography and dolls do to a girl's body image, bullies, and vanishing rainforests. By the end, all skies are blue again- -Mary Ellen has a string of triumphs and good deeds to her credit, Justine is seeing a therapist for an eating disorder, and her parents are thinking of getting back together. The Bobowicks aren't quite the Krupniks, but they're well worth a visit, and the lessons slide down easily. (b&w illustrations, not seen) (Fiction. 10-12)

Gr 5-8‘In this sequel to Fruit Flies, Fish, and Fortune Cookies (Morrow, 1994), Mary Ellen looks forward to her best friend's return from a year in Paris with her family. However, when Justine arrives home at the end of the summer, she seems different. She's understandably upset with her father who stayed in Paris with his new girlfriend, but she's also preoccupied with her appearance and continually makes negative comments about herself. As the two girls enter middle school and jostle for places in the social pecking order, it takes Mary Ellen a long time to recognize that her friend has more than the normal amount of adolescent angst and even longer to act upon that knowledge that she might have an eating disorder. Once Mary Ellen confides in their gym teacher, and Justine begins therapy, her recovery seems miraculously assured. LeMieux's breezy writing style is better suited to the small problems of the previous title, which centered on a broken mirror and the possibility of subsequent bad luck. This book's treatment of bulimia fails to engage readers, perhaps because the characters are so sketchily presented that their inner lives never become vivid. In fact, the stock characters of school nerd, snotty flirt, insipid hanger-on, etc., soon become irritating and their interactions with Justine and Mary Ellen extremely predictable. Deborah Hautzig's Second Star to the Right (Greenwillow, 1981; o.p.) or Steven Levenkron's Best Little Girl in the World (Warner, 1989) deal more successfully with the subject of eating disorders.‘Miriam Lang Budin, Mt. Kisco Public Library, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Mary Ellen's best friend, Justine, moves back from her year in Paris, but her parents have separated and she develops an eating disorder, which is more obvious to the reader than to Mary Ellen. The novel ends on a hopeful note when Justine begins counseling. Although LeMieux is at times heavy-handed with her moralizing about the importance of self-esteem, the main characters are convincing and the story is brisk and readable. From HORN BOOK 1993, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Gr. 5^-7. The characters in Fruit Flies, Fish & Fortune Cookies (1994) return, and Mary Ellen must help her best friend through a bout with bulimia. When Justine returns from Paris, her parents have recently split up, and she is having trouble finding a place in her old life. Mary Ellen slowly comes to realize that Justine's obsession with food and dieting is masking a bigger problem. The intensity of the book's issue, bulimia, is diminished by a text that is badly in need of cutting. The writing can also be cliched: "Mary Ellen, if you didn't get involved, you might lose your best friend forever--the worst way." Still, the story does bring the issue of eating disorders to the forefront, though some may object to the rather easy way in which the problem gets resolved (Justine goes to a therapist). A better choice for a slightly older audience is Leslea Newman's Fat Chance (1994). For larger collections or where the first book is popular. --Ilene Cooper