Adolescents confronted with adult-sized challenges are a special concern of fiction writer Louise Moeri. The author of several young adult novels that show how teens can come to terms with personal and family problems, Moeri tries to instill in her readers a sense of hope at life's possibilities. Hollis Lowery-Moore wrote in Twentieth-Century Young Adult Writers, "Cynical readers may scoff at the happy endings achieved in Moeri's chronicles of adverse conditions and unthinkable hardships,but the careful construction of credible characters and the tense plots ensure that most readers are cheering for these stalwart youngsters and will be dissatisfied with anything less than favorable resolutions."

The "adverse conditions" and "tense plots" that characterize Moeri's novels are familiar to the author, who follows the cardinal rule, "Write what you know." Born in Klamath Falls, Oregon, in 1924, Moeri grew up during the Great Depression. Lack of work and money forced...