School Library JournalGr 7 Up—These short, seemingly unconnected stories are set in the current moment but told by different adolescent characters from around the world. Two girls with a passion for cooking face the disappointment of their cooking teacher; another searches for her father in San Marcos, TX; another buys socks in Cairo; and a young man deals with depressed parents in Nebraska, to name but a few. And yet Nye's stories are indeed connected, some loosely and others in more abstract ways. Despite place, gender, and other superficial differences, they all weave together a perspective on what it means to come of age in the contemporary world. Rich thematic threads-dealing with loss, accepting the responsibilities of maturity, negotiating misunderstandings, for example-can be found throughout.
