From May until November, Holly writes in her journal, by turns fierce, angry, scared, heartbroken, defiant. Her teacher gave Holly the journal in the hopes of allowing her to work through her mother's overdose and stays in a succession of foster homes. But Holly has more immediate issues nger and shelter and not being cold. Running away again from an abusive foster family, she makes her way by stealth and cunning to Los Angeles. She writes poetry in her journal, too vid and wired poems that it seems a smart 12-year-old actually could write. She refuses to see herself as homeless, but as a gypsy, making a home where she can braries and schools are among her favorite places to hide. As her situation gets increasingly desperate, readers long for Holly to find a bath and a hot meal and someone to care for her. The ending of this taut, powerful story seems possible and deeply hopeful.

Gr 7 Up-In this final volume in the trilogy, Em Watts is being held captive by Brandon Stark, son of evil billionaire entrepreneur Robert Stark. Thanks to a forced brain transplant, the teen has been living in the body of superstar model Nikki Howard. Em manages to break out of Brandon's place and find her way back to NYC, but of course, it's impossible to hide when you're a world-famous celebrity. With the help of her tech-savvy friend, Felix, she uncovers Robert Stark's top-secret venture, Project Phoenix, and ultimately reveals it to the public. A bit slow-moving in the middle, the story really picks up as all the loose ends are tied up. Several romantic subplots with secondary characters provide humorous moments, as does the strong narrative voice. Despite its sci-fi premise, this is pure Cabot. At its essence are discussions of femininity and the premium that society places on beauty and youth, all wrapped up in a surface-level fluffy read full of brand-name-dropping and glamour. Jennifer Barnes, formerly at Homewood Library, IL