Much of the action in the novel takes place in Oberon Middle School, a suitable setting for a novel about judgment and acceptance. Middle school is a place where cliques rule the social structure and where teenagers learn to define themselves and discover their place in the world. Oberon Middle School is a typical middle school where kids tend to judge others by how they look and the friends they choose. It is difficult to make friends from other cliques or friends who do not seem to fit anywhere.

So Peters removes Antonia and Jazz from the middle school halls to the peer counseling office where they have a chance to get to know each other.

Visiting the homes of both Antonia and Jazz helps put the girls' issues in focus and reveals what lies beneath the exteriors they choose to present. So much judgment goes on at...