Shoogy left home in a hurry and had to come back for the box of jeans that someone left out front for her. She just couldn't take the inauthenticity of her life in her parents' world. When she left, she found her way to a pair of eyes that had intrigued her years before. These eyes were kind and saw more in her than her family ever had. The eyes belong to Curtis. Together they work out their struggles to make sense of things and they fall in love. There is unspoken acceptance and understanding. Shoogy's mother hopes she will one day come home but Shoogy knows she doesn't belong there and she and Curtis are trying to find where they do belong. For Curtis it looks as though he may belong in Iraq. It will be his second tour of duty and the nightmares from the first tour still linger for Shoogy's ears only. Shoogy watches him and considers the reality that is war beyond what the well-dressed cheerleading distanced passersby may believe. As Shoogy moves through the story, you can hear her heart beat and feel her pulse race as she feels so deeply the price of war. A tender soul created by the gifted pen of Angela Johnson with her sensitivity, empathy and deep understanding of struggle, pain and the importance of finding your own way and your best self. 128 Ages 13 and up