So as a seventh grader, no, you weren't friends with people you didn't like. But sometimes you also weren't friends with people you did like, which was complicated, and which didn't make any sense if you tried to explain it. Sometimes things just changed. That's where the sadness came in.

Other people have suggested that I write about teens because I'm perpetually stuck in that stage of my own development. That could very well be true. I would throw out that teens and tweens are just absolutely fabulous and the most interesting people on the planet. And it is a time of high drama, and everything matters.

And books are such an empowering way to give voice to some of these kids who aren't yet ready to tell their story. Or don't know what their story is, or are trying to figure it out.

Christmas is never over,unless you want it to be... Christmas is a state of mind.

If you breathed deep and set your mind to it, you could rise above your anger.

I'm sorry," he said again, and this time he took those words and owned them.

Suck it up. This is the life you chose for yourself, so buck up and deal.