Roxanne just wants to be a normal American girl with a normal American family. But with her mother back in Israel and her father working long hours as a cab driver in Manhattan, Roxanne and her sister, Gayle, have to fend for themselves. Things change, though, when Liat moves into town. Liat challenges Roxanne's assumptions about what it means to be cool, and what it means to be American.

"[E]xquisite . . ."
--Booklist

"Told in a first-person voice that is both sardonic and sincere, Friedman's novel succeeds in bringing forth some common issues that challenge any immigrant American child who must straddle separate ways of life while striving for that true-blue American image."
--Kirkus Reviews

"[T]his is a readable coming-of-age story that captures many universal aspects of the contemporary immigrant experience coupled with middle school angst, first crushes, and the importance of finding one’s own wings."
--School Library Journal