Clouds Over California

"Nourishes the spirit and fills the soul." - Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, author of Operation Sisterhood

"Touching and inspiring." - Lisa Moore Ramee, author of A Good Kind of Trouble

"A taste of history with the thrills of mystery and brims with family secrets." - Alicia D. Williams, award-winning author of Genesis Begins Again

Judy Blume meets Jacqueline Woodson in this powerful and sweetly emotional coming-of-age story about finding your place in the world, from the author of How High the Moon.

This was supposed to be the best year ever for eleven-year-old Stevie Morrison. But instead, her life seems determined to turn itself upside down.

First of all, her parents can''t stop fighting - and they decide to move the family to a totally new apartment, in a totally new part of town, which means a totally new middle school for Stevie. On top of that, her best friend, Jennifer, is acting weird. She won''t return Stevie''s phone calls, and apparently her new best friends are a bunch of mean girls.

The final straw comes with the arrival of Stevie''s teenage cousin Naomi - sent down in disgrace from Boston (though no one will tell Stevie why). But with Naomi comes an exciting glimpse of a world Stevie hasn''t paid much attention to before: one of Cleopatra Jones movies, women''s liberation and an intriguing-sounding group called the Black Panthers.

It might not be the year Stevie anticipated. But it will be the one that changes her life forever.

Praise for How High the Moon:

"Essential reading, full of voices that must be heard. One of the best stories I''ve read in a long while" - Emma Carroll, author of Letters from the Lighthouse

"An impressive debut" - Mail on Sunday