In some respects, Others See Us is a more "literary" work than Sleator's other novels. The book begins with an epigram by Scottish poet Robert Burns, "Oh wad some power the giftie gie us/To see ourselves as others see us!"

This quote sums up the novel's notion, reiterated in its title, that humans often wish to see themselves as others see us.

Sleator soon makes it clear, however, that people's real thoughts about one another are generally not what they say.

In developing this idea, Sleator creates several characters, in particular Jared, Annelise, Lindie, and their grandmother, who are more developed and complex than some of those in his other books. Sleator also gives the novel both credibility and immediacy through its use of a generally likeable first person narrator and through Annelise's diary entries, which effectively reveal her true character.

More importantly, the novel...