Looking For Alibrandi — Melina Marchetta

Josephine Alibrandi is smart, she's feisty, she's funny.

She also happens to have no idea who her father is. For as long she can remember, it's been just her, her mom, and he grandmother. Now it's her last year at a wealthy Catholic high school. The nuns couldn't be any stricter -- but that doesn't seem to stop all kinds of men from showing up.

There are two guys who might be interested in her: John Barton, who's polished and rich but kind and sensitive, and Jacob Coote, who's rough around the edges but sticks in Josephine's heart. Most important, there is her father. The father she's never known . . . who has unexpectedly walked back into her life. But is he there to stay? Caught between the old-world values of her grandmother, the no-nonsense wisdom of her mom, and the boys who continue to mystify her, Josephine is on the ride of her life. This will be the year she falls in love, the year she discovers the secrets of her family -- and the year she sets herself free.