I liked this book, though I am finding it difficult to put in to words why. It has a female heroine, she is a girl of color, she was adopted, though none of these is what the book is about. Instead it is about friendship and growing up and dealing with the hard stuff in life when you are a kid. The whole tone of the second half of the book is lulling like the snow can be if you are out in it too long, unfortunately this feeling in snow can be one's doom, but the smooth feeling of the prose just leads the reader through the story. Hazel is confronted with many soothing moments when she can choose the comfortable, soothing, warm path, instead of moving toward the cold to save her friend. The question is not whether she saves him or not, but if the world to which they must return is better than the one they leave behind?