Originally from Los Angeles, Isabel Kaplan is currently a student at Harvard University. Her first novel, Hancock Park, was published this summer by HarperCollins.

Sometimes all it takes is a basketball court, as Isabel Kaplan learned when she got involved with the Nyaka AIDS Orphans School in Uganda. She praises the school founder’s new book, The Price of Stones, and tells how she got involved.

As this year's high school seniors choose colleges, parents might be surprised to learn that Harvard, Yale, and other elite schools have far more permissive attitudes toward underage drinking than many others—and alcohol-related hospitalization rates are rising. Is it smart policy or reckless negligence?

At 19, Harvard student Isabel Kaplan has just published her first novel, Hancock Park, which exposes the excesses of L.A.’s wealthy high-school elite. Read the story behind the book.