In her second novel, the author of the poignant Say Goodnight, Grace (1988) tells a more ordinary story about a 14-year-old coming to terms with another kind of loss--the marriage of the older brother who is also her best friend. Pokie and Gib share many things, but especially their interest in airplanes; they make models and dream about becoming pilots. When Gib goes to college, Pokie feels stranded. Her other friend, an eighth-grade boy, seems stuck in childhood now that Pokie is starting high school, while Gib suddenly becomes adult: in a single year, he falls in love with Nell and plans an immediate wedding. Pokie's reaction is predictable, but Nell is nice, and Pokie is reconciled fairly easily. Deaver is a good observer, but she provides too much detail for this uneventful story. And while Pokie's concerns are well realized, Gib's story is underdeveloped: Nell's poor but unexplored relationship with her parents seems a fragile justification for this sudden wedding, Gib's parents' acquiesence too easy and unconsidered. A disappointment.