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Robin's decision to break-up with Bill when their romance gets too serious is taken as a personal affront by the members of the "double-A tens," the most popular girls in school and Robin's closest friends

Robin Tweedy-Boyd, 16, is a member of the in-crowd until she chooses not to drink and not to sleep with BMOC Bill. Then they reject her and she's ``out.'' The kids she hasn't bothered with since grammar school suddenly gravitate to her. Emerson Day, who has loved Robin for years in spite of her scorning him, becomes student body president; Robin again becomes the center of an important social group. Howe encases Robin's story in numerous subplots, many of which are episodic and distracting. One exception is the touching story of Robin's trip to Venice with her zany grandmother and Alzheimer's-stricken grandfather. Peer group acceptance is a serious teenage dilemma, yet Robin is too glib and calculating to engage much empathy. The unrealistic portrayal of her fall and phoenix-like rise trivializes what could have been a poignant story. (12-up) Copyright 1986 Cahners Business Information.

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Gr 7-12 When drinking, sex, and personal cruelty begin to typify her crowd, Robin makes a tough decision to drop out. Doing so, the high - school junior gives up her ``most popular'' status, but finds a likeable set of new friends who share her more sincere values. Intelligent and courageous, Robin tells her story in a relaxed first-person narrative. Her eccentric family is the source of her moral balance, and in subplot, provides a setting for the dilemma of a family dealing with Alzheimer's disease. Howe tells a perceptive, entertaining story of a teen who chooses to stand apart from the in crowd and enjoys it. Carolyn Noah, Worcester Public Library, Mass. Copyright 1987 Cahners Business Information.