Innocence

A strong novel by author of I Am Amelia Earhart. Though only fourteen years old, Beckett leads a life that most adults would consider daunting. Living with her widowed father in New York City, she sees herself perpetually on the edge of the world she surveys; an outsider peering in at cynical teachers and the "in-crowd" of Beautiful Girls. Drawn to an omnipotent school nurse in a way she can't quite understand, Beckett cobbles together a flickering social circle characterized more by shared alienation than by common interests. Uncertain, yet self-contained, she moves from little nightmare to little nightmare without setting off adult sirens. Teens know this toughness.