BEST ENEMIES FOREVER

Felicity Doll, self-proclaimed star, is once again out to make Priscilla Robin miserable in Leverich's third book about the duo (Best Enemies Again, 1991, etc.). Inspired by her older sister, Priscilla is starting a club of fourth graders who want to help out and do good deeds. Felicity, angered by anyone else in the spotlight, sets out first to destroy the club, then to take it over. Felicity's venom is matched by her cleverness, and as Priscilla counters every attack, their struggle begins to resemble a chess match. This amusing and fast-moving story bears no resemblance to reality: Felicity is so rotten, and Priscilla is so good, that no one would ever be able to tolerate either one of them. In its exaggerated form, however, it presents some thought-provoking and rather complex ethical dilemmas, and Felicity will surely stir young readers to exuberant indignation. Leverich effectively mirrors the black-and-white view middle-elementary children have of themselves and others. By the end, Felicity gets a much-deserved comeuppance (it won't necessarily satisfy the readers who want to see her drawn and quartered), bringing this engrossing transitional bookof which there are too fewto a fine and funny close. (b&w illustrations, not seen) (Fiction. 7+)