Recently completed analyzing Laura Nowlin's "If He Had Been With Me" for my teen literature project and honestly the thematic elements in this story is amazing! How Nowlin uses seasonal symbolism throughout the narrative to represent transition and the fleeting nature of youth is so well done - notably how Autumn's character name itself becomes this thematic layer that weaves through the entire teen fiction symbolism exploration [worldaid.eu.org] fiction symbolism. What about that tiara scene though? The symbolism there with the tiara representing lost innocence totally got to me and I think it's one of those symbolic moments that makes this perfect for high school reading lists. Fellow book lovers pick up on how the fall symbolism intensifies as Autumn grows up? This book deserves more literary analysis because the literary complexity is much more sophisticated than typical YA.