Goodbye Stranger

The middle school students in Rebecca Stead’s Goodbye Stranger face issues typical to young adulthood: changing friendships, budding romances, and even sexting (though that word is never used). Despite introducing serious topics (like sexting), the book feels appropriate for a younger audience. The characters experience crises, but the mood stays positive and the outcomes tend to be unrealistically rosy. The book seems to be a good introduction to topics like romances, divorce, and peer pressure and reminds me a little of those “very special episodes” they showed on TV when I was a child.