In a first-person narrative, Grove lets Carly tell this coming-of-age story. In her search for her own identity separate from her friends, Carly discovers that she must live with her mistakes and that they have molded her into the person that she is.

One of Grove's many strengths as a writer is her creation of strong characters. Her two main characters could not be more dissimilar—at first glance. Carly is a girl many readers will identify with because the problems she faces of friendship and selfimage are those they also face. Dustin, on the other hand, has problems most people cannot imagine. His dirty clothes, the bug in his ear, his protective instincts toward his pet frog, his musical talent, all add dimensions to his personality. Through Grove's carefully drawn word-pictures, readers will feel at first Carly's dislike and then her sympathy for the...