The backdrop for this book and the other books in the "Hamilton High" series is an urban, racially diverse high school in Southern California. All of the stories do not take place within the school however. Reynolds sometimes removes her characters from this environment to bring the reader into their personal dilemmas. In "Only If You Think So," the first of the six stories, Jason, the protagonist, has left Hamilton High because of poor grades and moved to Sojourner High School, a school his father calls "Loser High." Reynolds takes readers into Jason's dysfunctional home to shed light on how Jason came to view himself as a loser in the first place.

Clearly, Reynolds uses this setting both to emphasize the odds Jason is up against and to help him recognize his motivation to beat these odds. It would be all too easy for Jason to fall into...