I'm a middle-aged gay man without any kids of my own, so take it with a big grain of salt when I say that author Stephanie Perkins writes about the insecurities and complexities of friendship between two teenage girls in a way that felt very intimate and authentic.
She was packing a blue backpack, the same backpack which was in the photographs shown to me by the police.
The last time the family heard from her was on May 8.