Madge’s life is anything but normal. She never knew her Jamaican father. Her mother --- an ex-convict as well as an illegal immigrant from England --- is white just like everyone else in her small Pennsylvania town. So biracial Madge stands out like a sore thumb. She thinks of herself as “the black button in the white button box” and “the olive in the peanut bowl.” The students at her school treat her unkindly and make fun of her skin tone and hair. Her only friends are Serena, Jamie and Krishna.

Madge’s home life is chaotic and unpredictable with her mother often doing a disappearing act. Her aunt steps in and gives her some semblance of calm and normalcy, though even she, a white woman, doesn’t understand the discrimination and shame that Madge experiences every day at school.

While visiting her cousin Bob in New York City, Madge comes across a dirty, neglected, young Hispanic boy who appears abandoned. His skin tone is the same as hers, and she is drawn to the child. Without thinking the situation through, she decides to take matters into her own hands and rescues him from the city. Many problems crop up back home as Madge tries to juggle high school life with looking after the little street urchin. Timmy badly needs some structure in his life. He requires all kinds of care and attention that a teenage girl who is still in high school and not exactly grown up herself is not able to provide.

Madge realizes that she has done something illegal and worries about getting caught. She knows that kidnapping is serious business and, witnessing her mother’s many brushes with the criminal justice system, wants to avoid trouble. Still, she is driven by the poster on her bedroom wall, which contains a quote by Elie Wiesel: “The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.” Madge certainly is not indifferent. This line becomes her mantra as she convinces herself and tries to persuade those around her that she really has done the right thing by removing Timmy from New York City and the haphazard group of adults who were taking such poor care of him.

Meanwhile, Madge’s mother is back in jail again and faces deportation after her sentence is completed. And Krishna’s family is moving away. Madge and Krishna have become romantically involved, and she dreads losing him. Then, there is the ever-present concern of Madge’s future and what to do about Timmy.

THE OPPOSITE OF LOVE is hardly a light-hearted, feel-good novel. While it doesn’t answer a lot of the tough questions it raises, the book does explain what it feels like to be the innocent victim of racism, the many difficulties a teenage parent faces and how important it is to retain a sense of self while trying to adapt and fit into one’s surroundings. This is definitely a book to be read by the young person who wants to take a realistic look at serious social issues.