Valley of Saint Anne A story of love, loss and forgiveness — Deirdre Beyer, 12, is inspired to keep a diary when she reads Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl. Dee Dee writes faithfully to Anne, as Anne did to her imaginary friend Kitty, and her diary entries reveal an inquisitive and insightful young mind as she shares the happenings in her life: Changes in her body and her growing curiosity about sex; her first encounter with a boy; her father's tragic death; her mother's loneliness; her desire to have a Quinceañera; and the confidence and courage she gains learning to surf.

Trey Hollinswood, 15, and his thirteen-year-old sister Kim are dealing with a lot: Their parents separate; the bank forecloses on their home; they stay with their mom in a homeless shelter and then in the home of a customer, Walt, she meets at work. The atmosphere at Walt’s is tense and life for Trey and Kim is made more difficult because they’re forced to share a bedroom. Like all young people, they have issues; Trey his burgeoning sex drive and Kim the fact that she has no interest in acting or looking girlish and is sometimes mistaken for a boy.

Fourteen-year-old Colleen Hanrahan knows what boys want and is willing to give it to them — on her own terms. An intelligent and proud young woman, Colleen tries to remain above her bad reputation and tells herself it doesn’t matter what other people think about her promiscuous behavior, as long as her father — a successful, bullying criminal defense attorney and controlling, bad-tempered alcoholic — doesn’t hear about it. She can count on her mother — a family law attorney with whom she shares a secret — to come to her defense, if needed. Born and raised in Newburgh, NY, Colleen is proud of her birthplace and its historical importance.