Readers of Just Be Gorgeous will want to read the next two installments of Heidi's adventures, Wonderful Me and The Farewell Kid, which follow the protagonist as she finds further romance and determines what she wants to do with her life. Another Wersba novel, Whistle Me Home, provides a much darker slant on similar themes when high school Noli falls in love with a boy who is gay. Barbara Wersba writes about another teenage misfit, Rita Formica, in a trilogy that includes Fat: A Love Story, Love Is the Crooked Thing, and Beautiful Losers.

Readers charmed by the hopefulness of Jeffrey may be interested in the portrayal of a similarly optimistic character in Jerry Spinelli's Stargirl.

Those with an interest in the world of Broadway and the theater might enjoy The Street Dancers, Broadway Dreams, and Curtain Going Up by Elizabeth Starr Hill; though geared for...