John Corey Whaley

Agoraphobic sixteen-year-old Solomon has not left his house in three years, but Lisa is determined to change that-- and to write a scholarship-winning essay based on the results. Lisa thrusts herself into his life, introducing him to her boyfriend Clark. Soon all three teens are far closer than they thought they'd be. When their facades fall down, their friendships threaten to collapse, as well.

Seventeen-year-old Cullen's summer in Lily, Arkansas, is marked by his cousin's death by overdose, an alleged spotting of a woodpecker thought to be extinct, failed romances, and his younger brother's sudden disappearance.