Wilson, Jacqueline. Girls in tears.

(The Girls Quartet, Book 4). Random House, Delacorte. 170p. c2003. 0-385-73082-9. $9.95. J

In this conclusion to the lively series, following Girls in Love, Girls Under Pressure, and Girls Out Late (reviewed in KLIATT in September 2002), British 9th-grader Ellie suffers friendship troubles when she feels her old friends Nadine and Magda are beginning to leave her out. A rift develops over an exchange of mean words, and it worsens when Ellie discovers Magda making out with Ellie's boyfriend Russell at a drunken party. Meanwhile, Russell has been pressuring Ellie to go further than kissing, and Ellie's home life is troubled, too, as her father becomes increasingly jealous of her stepmother's suddenly successful new career. Then Nadine corresponds with a stranger over the Internet, and foolishly sets out to meet him: all is forgiven between the three friends when Magda and Ellie band together to come to Nadine's rescue when the Internet date proves to be a creepy older man. As mentioned in the review of the others in the series, this is like a British version of Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's Alice series, featuring an adolescent girl realistically struggling with typically adolescent concerns, with lots of gossipy details. The British slang Clod roll," "naft," "pofaced") may confuse a few readers, but it's not necessary to have read the others in the series to enjoy this title, and many girls will be able to relate to Ellie's woes.