Sweet Sixteen #11

Dirinda Jones would rather bury her nose in a textbook than go on dates, but when she agrees to tutor the football player Benton Zeller (nicknamed Beezie) to keep him eligible for the team, their study sessions stretch into weeks. After Beezie aces his grammar exam and invites her to the big game and dance, Dirinda's excitement meets a small problem—she forgets her glasses at the stadium and can't see what happens on the field. Quick thinking gets her to the newspaper office to learn all the play-by-play details in time for the dance, where she surprises Beezie by being able to talk intelligently about his athletic performance.

Mary Lou Dilworth juggles her role as advice columnist for a major teen publication with an ambitious schedule of school activities, all while managing the real problems that land in her mailbox from thousands of young readers across North America. This true-life profile shows how a high schooler with genuine insight into her peers' struggles became the voice answering their toughest questions about friendship, romance, and growing up.