In the novel Looking for Alibrandi, Melina Marchetta deals with several key issues that directly relate to her adolescent audience. These issues include Josie's search for personal identity, pressure and suicide, peer relationships, and Josie's dealing with dramatic changes in her life.

Melina Marchetta's writing succeeds in engaging adolescent readers. Her novels Looking for Alibrandi and Saving Francesca take adolescent readers into familiar worlds with characters they can recognize and explore issues and experiences which speak to adolescents. Marchetta combines these elements into stories that she tells in a lively, entertaining way.