How I Wonder What You Are — L.M. Lynch

When a favorite climbing tree is mysteriously cut down from the town nature preserve, everyone begins whispering that the Holyfields, a new family in town, are the “tree-killers.” Laurel is at first devastated, but finds herself inexplicably drawn to the coolly remote David Holyfield, whose computer skills are remarkable. “It's almost as if the computer is part of me,” he says. When Laurel's close friends seem to ostracize her because of her friendship with David's sister Roberta, she becomes determined to discover if the “real” part of David has actually been lost in his computer hard drive. In a sometimes funny, often gut-wrenching story of friendships lost, friendships won, and friendships recovered, Laurel faces what it means to be an outsider, and eventually wins a place back in -- on her own terms.