Clouds Over California

Coming-of-age story about finding your place in the world

This was supposed to be the best year ever for eleven-year-old Stevie Morrison. But instead, her life seems determined to turn itself upside down.

First of all, her parents can't stop fighting - and they decide to move the family to a totally new apartment, in a totally new part of town, which means a totally new middle school for Stevie. On top of that, her best friend, Jennifer, is acting weird. She won't return Stevie's phone calls, and apparently her new best friends are a bunch of mean girls.

The final straw comes with the arrival of Stevie's teenage cousin Naomi - sent down in disgrace from Boston (though no one will tell Stevie why). But with Naomi comes an exciting glimpse of a world Stevie hasn't paid much attention to before: one of Cleopatra Jones movies, women's liberation and an intriguing-sounding group called the Black Panthers.

It might not be the year Stevie anticipated. But it will be the one that changes her life forever.