["The Pistachio Prescription"] is a novel no thoughtful 9- to 13-year-old should let parents see. They may not survive the instant ego deflation of viewing themselves through adolescent eyes…. On the other hand, Cassie's peers will surely identify with the ugly duckling heroine's inferiority complex, her hypochondria, her first love and her unexpected nomination for president of "the freshperson class" (my favorite phrase in the entire book). The work is really an extended monologue with lots of snappy one-liners, some good, some not…. And though her parents clearly seem headed for the divorce court by book's end, the heroine is beginning to make her own peace with them, and with the world as it is.

Selma G. Lanes, "Children's Books: 'The Pistachio Prescription'," in The New York Times Book Review (© 1979 by The New York Times Company; reprinted by permission), March 18, 1979, p. 26.