A disclaimer at the start of Oddballs says that although the family members are real the other characters are fictional. If this is so, then Oddballs is a masterpiece of vivid, realistic characterization; even if the characters are based on real people, the portraits are remarkable. Best drawn of all is probably Leah, focus of the poignant "Leah's Stories." She is a plain girl, apparently from a poor family, but she tells outrageous stories about her relationships to nobility and of her fantastic adventures in exotic places among singular people. A thoroughgoing nonconformist whose sad efforts to be accepted by her classmates only make her more of an outsider, she is kept at a distance even by Sleator's proud and self-admiring coterie of nonconformists.

They consider her a liar and have little concern for why she tells the stories she does. They do not...