But the dream of romance with popular Dave Young soon turns into a nightmare of juvenile delinquency when Dave, resentful of his stepmother and her pregnancy, becomes rebellious, involving Sue in thrill stealing, blatantly ignoring the authority of his parents and parents in general. David's rebellion becomes Sue's crisis as with love and sympathy she leads him toward a normal acceptance of family life.

    Mary Jane had been sheltered from white antagonisms, and is now suddenly thrust into a world of snobbery, prejudice and suspicion. At first she bitterly resents the role of ambassador, but slowly becomes less defensive and forms a sound relationship with her classmates based on genuine compatability. While the fictional aspects of the story are little more than adequate, the real value for the high school reader is the clear, undeviating challenge to prejudice, the expose of some of its evils in their active and virulent forms, and a removal of the issue from the academic to the recognizable level

    Aided by a friend in Budapest, they plan to stowaway aboard a freight train, pass the Austrian border and make their way to Sweden where Latsi's parents have resided for several years. The unpredictable obstacles in this race for freedom add to the existent hazards. The boys are separated, Pishta comes down with a fever and Latsi comes in contact with a Russian spy whose job it is to reclaim wayward refugees. With the help of a Swedish journalist in Austria., the spy is apprehended, the boys reunited and the long dangerous journey completed. A timely topic employs tried and true techniques of story telling in this well thriller in the cloak and dagger vein.