Leap

Kevin is off-limits to 15-year-old Natalie, who documents her coming-of-age summer in notebook entries. Not only is he the older brother of her best friend, Sasha, he's also 19. But Kevin's advances are hard to ignore, and before long the two are having sex. Ostracized by Sasha and her other friends, worried about pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, and jolted by her mother's romance with a woman, Natalie finds solace in modern dance and the guidance of an encouraging instructor. When Kevin proves to be less than gentlemanly, Natalie walks away from the relationship and conjures the strength to call out her neglectful, long-absent father. Lundgren's (Touched) prose can be clunky at times, but Natalie persuasively develops from naïve and resentful after Kevin spurns her to hypercritical about others' transgressions (like Sasha's shoplifting and smoking) and, finally, to poised. In the end, Natalie declares her support for her mother's relationship, befriends a shy girl with dance aspirations, and pauses to contemplate a drug legalization rally—a passage that underscores Natalie's growing awareness that the world exists in shades of gray. Ages 13–18. (Mar.)