Grove lights the inner core of her superb characters with distinct and rounded personalities so that the reader can see why the characters make their individual choices.

Fourteen-year-old Victoria Moore is an outsider at her school. She is an excellent student who excels in science. Her bug collections and rock collections give her a sense of achieve ment as she catalogues each addition.

Her attempt to change her image while she is spending the summer at the farm initially fails until she faces the fact that her pose as a scientist studying collected specimens is a way to hide from herself.

Tory's sister, Sara—outgoing, selfcentered, and vain—has made cheerleader for seventh grade in the fall, and she translates most conversations into cheers. She admits, for example, that all the cheerleaders want to be captain. "We all do. Give me a...