Popular and award-winning author of young adult and middle-grade novels, as well as children's books, Stephanie S. Tolan often writes of children who are, in some way or another, special if not exceptional. They are the outsiders, misfits, and misunderstood. They are kids plagued by scandal, kids who find refuge in imaginary kingdoms, kids who discover dangerous family secrets. Tolan's adolescent and teen protagonists have to learn to deal with the world as well as with their own special situations: surviving a personal fear of nuclear war, getting through the final years of boarding school, dealing with the life of a twin, and Fundamentalism. Tolan is concerned about the rights of young people in a society that she feels cares less and less about children and their needs. Poverty, education, housing, and abuse are some of the social issues that concern her, and she has dealt with some...