Celine

"Show a little maturity," he said, which I've doped out to mean: Pass all your courses, avoid detection in all crimes and misdemeanors, don't get pregnant.

Celine's father has left her with these instructions. She's not too worried about the last two, but she'll fail English unless she rewrites her Catcher in the Rye essay. And she keeps being interrupted, especially by Jake, the neighbor's boy, who's been dumped on her for the weekend.

An ALA Best Book for Young Adults
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
A Booklist Best Book of the '80s
A Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book of the Year