Jenny Davis has never been a person to sit on the sidelines. In her writing, teaching, and social activism she has translated her personal experiences--both pleasant and unpleasant--in ways that can help young people survive adolescence. Social concerns such as unemployment, homelessness, illiteracy, and violent crime are shown from the viewpoint of Davis's teen protagonists in such highly praised novels as Good-Bye and Keep Cold and Checking on the Moon. Growing up involves more than just overcoming one or two obstacles for the young people who inhabit these novels. It means confronting a never-ending succession of challenges. In each of Davis's books, written in an engaging conversational style, teens learn that parents are not always right, and that violence, old age, insecurity, and loneliness are all a part of life, sometimes conquerable, more often accepted and endured to the best of one's ability. "I try very hard not...