Linden's high-school experience includes crushing on her best friend Seung, working for the school paper, and trying to conceal the fact that she's homeless and sleeps at her school. She's desperate to keep her homelessness a secret, so she follows a strict list of rules and tries to keep everyone at a safe emotional distance. Rufener highlights challenges some homeless teens face in her debut, drawing attention to the intricate ways Linden manages to survive every day, as well as the emotional and physical toll wrought by the unending search for basic resources, like food, soap, and tampons. Of course, Linden is more than her homelessness, and Rufener admirably focuses much of the plot on Linden's interactions with her friends and her crush, her conflict with a horde of bullies, and her gradual realization that emotional vulnerability can lead to safety. While the writing can be florid, and the characterizations lack subtlety, it's nevertheless refreshing to see a fairly well-rounded picture of a teen who's more than her crisis.

If she can follow the rules, no one will ever discover that she is the "homeless girl hiding in front of them."Linden Rose eats peanut-butter crackers from the vending machine, washes her laundry in the sink of the boys' locker room, and sleeps in the baseball dugout. Hinderwood High School is her home, and she will do anything to keep her secret. Even her closest friends, Ham and Seung, have no idea that Linden has been hiding in plain sight ever since her mother and then her grandmother passed away. But when her friends are threatened by a violent classmate, Linden must decide if she should risk discovery to protect others. Chaotic storytelling and poorly crafted dialogue are only two of this uninspired story's problems. And while the cast is somewhat diverse (Ham is gay, and biracial Seung is Korean/white), the white default prevails and stereotypes abound. Plot devices such as an overly vigilant school security and a reporter hot on the trail of Linden's story are forced. And while Linden's external life is suitably messy in light of her circumstances, her interior life is likewise disorganized and confusing. Only the glimpse of romance between Linden and Seung feels real; Seung's depiction as an attractive Asian man is refreshing.Disjointed, didactic, and mostly disappointing. (Fiction. 14-18)