How to Find What You’re Not Looking For is a historical novel set in the years after the Loving vs. Virginia Supreme Court ruling and references important historical events of the time, including the Vietnam War, Walter Cronkite’s nightly news broadcasts, the Summer of Love, and music by Elvis Presley and the Beatles. At school, Ariel struggles with dysgraphia and is bullied because she is Jewish. Her sister, Leah, runs away with Raj, a recently immigrated Indian man, but her family rejects the marriage because Raj is not Jewish. Ariel questions behaviors she deems contradictory and expresses her thoughts through poetry. Throughout the novel, Ariel bravely asks the adults in her world difficult questions that compel them to interrogate their actions and beliefs, demonstrating that activism is not just publicly marching in the streets, but also confronting the everyday acts of racism and antisemitism that we often witness within our own families and communities.

New historical fiction from a Newbery Honor–winning author about how middle schooler Ariel Goldberg's life changes when her big sister elopes following the 1967 Loving v. Virginia decision, and she's forced to grapple with both her family's prejudice and the antisemitism she experiences, as she defines her own beliefs.

Twelve-year-old Ariel Goldberg's life feels like the moment after the final guest leaves the party. Her family's Jewish bakery runs into financial trouble, and her older sister has eloped with a young man from India following the Supreme Court decision that strikes down laws banning interracial marriage. As change becomes Ariel's only constant, she's left to hone something that will be with her always--her own voice.