Bess Cunningham has never been popular, and she plans to do something about it. She’s got a fresh style with plenty of unique clothes, and she’s the new stage manager for the musical at her middle school. She couldn’t care less about the volunteer work her parents do at a soup kitchen until she meets Grace Jarvis Battle. The kind, elderly woman reminds Bess of her grandmothers except for one significant difference–Grace lives on the street and finds food in dumpsters. Because of Grace, Bess begins to think about her priorities and realizes there are more important things in life than trying to win friends with a few wild outfits. Ellen Wittlinger won a Michael L. Printz Honor for her writing and is praised for her ability to tackle important topics from original perspectives. Narrator Stina Nielsen perfectly captures the confusion so many middle-schoolers face as they desperately try to find their place in the world.

Set in the Cape Cod village of Provincetown, Massachusetts, this is the story about 17-year-old Jackie’s struggle to overcome her grief and confusion after her best friend is carried out to sea during a storm. Lorna had been the dynamic leader of a tight-knit group of four friends – Jackie, Lucas and Finn – and her disappearance changes the dynamics between the surviving three. Jackie is still hiding her feelings for Finn, who had been Lorna’s boyfriend, and Lucas has withdrawn to the point where Jackie wonders if he is keeping a secret even larger than her own. Meanwhile the future looms, and Jackie fears leaving the only life she has known.