Growing Up & Facts of Life, Social & Family Issues 

ALA Popular Paperback For Young AdultsNew York Public Library Books for the Teen AgeBank Street Best Children's Books of the YearJasmine "Jazz" Gardner heads off to India during the monsoon season. The family trip is her mother's doing: Mrs. Gardner wants to volunteer at the orphanage that cared for her when she was young. But going to India isn't Jazz's idea of a great summer vacation. She wants no part of her mother's do-gooder endeavors.What's more, Jazz is heartsick. She's leaving the business she and her best friend, Steve Morales, started--as well as Steve himself. Jazz is crazy in love with the guy. If only he knew!Only when Jazz reluctantly befriends Danita, a girl who cooks for her family, and who faces a tough dilemma, does Jazz begin to see how she can make a difference--to her own family, to Danita, to the children at the orphanage, even to Steve. As India claims Jazz, the monsoon works its madness and its magic. - from Amzon