Balancing her career as a young-adult novelist with her work as a practicing psychotherapist, Jean Davies Okimoto draws on her own memories as well as the experiences of her children in writing "problem" novels--stories that depict average teens dealing with realistic situations within their families and school. "Okimoto brings a light, easy style to her books," commented Twentieth-Century Young Adult Writers contributor Bill Buchanan, adding that her novels "should be high on anyone's list who is counseling middle schoolers through adjustment problems related to relationships in the home or school setting." While Okimoto's fiction contains the happy endings that are not always guaranteed in real life, critics have praised many of her books, which include the award-winning Jason's Women, Molly by Any Other Name, and The Eclipse of Moonbeam Dawson. "In writing for young people, I attempt to entertain, to write as honestly as I can, and to...