The Girl from Arizona

Fourteen-year-old Marjorie has grown up on an Arizona ranch, where drought and cattle losses have put school in Albuquerque beyond her family's means. A story about boarding-school friends brings her own loneliness into focus. With Aunt Jessie listening, she admits how much she wants an education, companions her own age and a chance to see more of the world.

Later, in New York, an enjoyable outing with the Randolphs ends in an uncomfortable conversation with Aunt Julia. Marjorie's eagerness to please her relatives collides with rules about accepting invitations and owing favors to acquaintances. Nina Rhoades builds this children's novel around the distance between good intentions and other people's expectations. Ranch life, city visits, family affection and the wish to belong give the story its shape. Readers interested in older fiction for girls will find a close account of the small disappointments and social pressures that can make growing up feel difficult.