Okay, you’ve graduated past teen romances and Anne of Green Gables is so over with! So what’s next? How about some books that show girls standing up for themselves, kicking butt and taking no prisoners? It’s time to fight the power with these girls-rule reads!
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Itty-bitty blondie Sylvia Mark doesn’t look like much. But piss her off, and she’s liable to go all Hulk on you. Except, not green—just really, really strong. Meangrrl Colleen finds that out when she tries to warn Sylvia off her fine boyfriend, and ends up in a Colleen-shaped locker dent with a broken arm for her trouble. While Sylvia at first chalks up her overnight might to puberty-gone-wild, her disturbing dreams of bio-vats and rivers of blood hint at a dangerously different reason. Meanwhile, in a secret government lab, Dr. Tabitha Carver looks over her collection of super-girls in jars, awaiting the return of the missing four so she can activate her army of baby goddesses. Four girls were kidnapped from the lab at the start of Carver’s precious cloning project. Now one of those girls is beginning to manifest her powers. And due to an instinctive impulse that is leading her closer and closer to her test-tube origins, Sylvia is rounding up the other three for a final violent confrontation with Carver that could end up rocking the entire world. My teenage friends, you have no idea how much serious ass-kicking is contained in this lil’ GN. Suffice it to say that it is on the order of my fav comic girl Fray and her bad-ass cousin Tank Girl, and just as cosmically awesome. And if square-jawed, pouty-lipped Sylvia looks familiar, it may be because Simon & Schuster just recently picked up this independent production that originally debuted on Dark Horse’s website, then was published in a seven issue series by Arcana Studios back in ’04. Now S&S have collected all seven issues of Sylvie in this suh-weet paperback for your uninterrupted viewing pleasure. So get off the couch already, head to your closest library or bookstore and get your own Girl! (Batteries and kung fu superpowers not included.)
It’s 1969, the war (excuse me, “military action”) is raging in Vietnam, Charles Manson is on trial for mass murder, and fourteen-year-old Bliss In-the-Morning-Dew is fresh off the commune. Her hippie parents have fled to Canada to escape the draft and left Bliss high and dry with her prissy southern grandmother in Atlanta. But this is not a tragedy. Bliss discovers that she actually likes real soap, clean sheets and remote-controlled television. She’s even looking forward to making friends at the chi-chi private school her grandmother has enrolled her in. That is, until she steps on campus and hears the otherworldly voice that keeps whispering in her head, speaking of blood, death, and sacrifice. Until she explores the abandoned third floor of the school’s oldest building, once a convent, and discovers the room of the young novice named Liliana who plunged to her death to escape the soul-cleansing whip of a sanctimonious Mother Superior. Until she finds out that one of her new chums actually plans on becoming a vessel for the vengeful Liliana and needs Bliss’s blood to seal the deal! OMG, Lauren Myracle, who knew you were hiding a bloody butcher knife behind that Mayberry smile? Myracle, lately she of the sweet, pastel-covered stories of girlhood has returned to her darker, a la Rhymes with Witches roots with this delicious package of scary goodness all wrapped up in a blood-soaked bow. Lately I have been pissing and moaning about the fact that there is not enough true YA horror to fill the desperate need of teens everywhere for some good old-fashioned thrills and chills. Well, I’m here to tell you that YA horror is BACK because Lauren Myracle has BROUGHT IT with this spine-tingling nightmare that is 1/3 Carrie, 1/3 classic Lois Duncan, and the rest gorgeously gory urban legend. The YA horror gauntlet has been THROWN my adolescent, Stephen-King-reading friends, and I can’t wait to see how many YA writer-peeps start penning their own terrifying tales in order to reach the bar raised by this bloody Myracle! Haunting a library or bookstore near you September 2008.
The main character of Nancy Werlin’s latest novel, seventeen-year-old Lucy Scarborough, happens to be a pregnant teenager, but this shockingly original hybrid of fantasy and psychological thriller is like no pregnant-teen-story you’ve ever read. Besides dealing with the same problems as any young mother-to-be, Lucy also has to contend with the conditions of an age-old curse that landed her in this situation in the first place. See, in Lucy’s family, all the women get pregnant as teens, give birth to daughters, and then promptly go insane. The daughter grows up and the cycle starts all over again. This is all due to the fact that one of Lucy’s ancestors refused to return the romantic affections of the evil Elfin King, and he in turn cursed her and all her future generations with schizophrenic madness that kicks in during late adolescence. There is only one way to break the curse: perform the three impossible tasks described in the balled Scarborough Fair. For hundreds of years, no Scarborough woman has been able to solve the puzzle. But this is the twenty-first century, and with the help of the Internet, a supportive family and a solid boyfriend who believes in her, Lucy may just be the first Scarborough with a real shot at banishing the Elfin King forever. This perfect blend of contemporary teen angst, romance, and myth had me racing through the pages to find out if Lucy beat the clock on going crazy while simultaneously Googling the lyrics to Scarborough Fair to see if I had any better luck at solving the riddle. And the climax, well, you’ll just have to see for yourself, but it literally gave me goosebumps. (For the record, evil fairies scare me!!) But you shouldn’t be afraid to look for this impossibly good book at your local library or bookstore September 2008.
In a world where evil magicians called Danisoba steal away small children who display any hint of mystical talent, orphan pirate girl Kestrel works hard to hide her ability to whistle up the wind. But she may be forced to show her hand when her beloved Captain Binns is arrested by the Royal Navy and sentenced to hang for his dastardly deeds. Kestrel is frantic to save him. But if she allows her talent to show, any sailor worth his salt will sell her out to the nearest Danisoba for top dollar. So instead she relies on more earthly means to orchestrate the save of the century. Hampered by a mutinous crew, a disappearing ship, and a double-dealing jack o’ napes named Philip McAvery, (who may or may not be on her side but is far too good looking to be trusted either way) Kestrel has to decide if she’s willing to risk life and liberty to save the man who has been like a father to her. Shiver me timbers! This thrilling paperback original reminded me of my all-time favorite series, Bloody Jack
High school senior Ruby finds herself in a precarious position when her alcoholic mom ditches her and she is left to fend for herself in the six months left before her eighteenth birthday. She tries making a go of it on her own, hiding the fact that the water and heat in her rented house have been turned off, but she is eventually found out and sent to live with her uber-successful lawyer sister Cora (who she hasn’t seen in years) and Cora’s technological whiz-kid husband Jamie. Being catapulted from skid row to the equivalent of VH1’s The Fabulous Life of… leaves Ruby suspicious and unwilling to believe that the good times will last. In fact, she still keeps the key to the old house around her neck just in case she needs an escape hatch. But as she begins to collect new friends who gently but insistently begin to demand her attention (bossy, cell-phone obsessed classmate Olivia, OCD-suffering boss Harriet, more-than-just-a neighbor and smokin’ hot Nate) Ruby begins to relax into her suddenly safe and spacious new life. Until she discovers that perfect Nate has some family secrets of his own, secrets that she unfortunately understands all too well. Can these two fiercely independent teens learn to lean on each other? Or will their pride keep them apart? Sarah Dessen maintains her signature deep and introspective style in this, her eighth novel, and fans will recognize some familiar characters from Dessen’s other works embedded in Ruby’s story. If you like Lock and Key, you’ll want to go back and read Dessen’s backlist, especially my favorite title
Four upper crust NYC siblings take on the stone cold world of celebrity in this brilliant debut novel by playwright Theresa Rebeck. After a picture of the three girls in the title is published with much fanfare in an issue of the New Yorker, the newly minted celebriteens must learn how to navigate the shark-filled waters of fame. Each sib takes his or her turn at telling the story of how reporters staked out their school, how their aging ex-beauty pageant mother sold them out, and how they finally brought their borderline evil agent to heel. After her wild ride on the unstoppable fame machine, eldest sister Daria decides that fame “feels like a disease to me, and everyone is sick, the reporters, and the photographers and the commentators and the people, everyone has this disease, and what the disease does is it makes them hungry all the time…only for everyone else in America, me and my life and my family’s lives are the things that they’re hungry for, and they can never be satisfied, and so there is no ending.” Consider THAT next time you snap open your latest issue of People magazine! Sharply observed and incredibly well written in realistic and riotous teenspeak, this is THE novel for fans of Britney, Perez and Entourage. Consider it the perfect beach book for you AND your mom.
This. Is. One. Badass. Book. Seriously. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if Maureen Johnson had also joined in the fray. So, three awesome chick lit. authors banded together to write this hilarious Florida roadtrip story via email, each adopting a different alter-teen-ego: “Christianpants” Jesse, tough-girl Vicks (who is described as having b & w hair, and I imagined her looking like voted-off-too-soon A.I. Season 7 Amanda Overmeyer), and shy, upper-class Mel. I won’t be the one to spoil the surprise of who wrote what, but friends, it was ALL good. Vicks’ s boyfriend Brady has gone off to college in Miami, which would be fine except he hasn’t texted or called in two weeks and Vicks is worried. So worried that she can’t even share her fears with her best friend, Jesse. Jesse, whose fine-looking Mama can still compete in wet t-shirt contests, has just learned that same sassy Mama has been diagnosed with breast cancer and is so worried about her mother’s possible demise and loss of her eternal soul (according to Jesse, wet t-shirt contestants go straight to Hell, without passing go or collecting $200 dollars) that she doesn’t tell Vicks. Instead, Jesse suggests a road trip to see Brady as a distraction for them both. Third wheel Mel invites herself along because wants a taste of the BF love that Vicks and Jesse share (and also, she’s the only one with an AmEx who could spring for the hotel). After three stinky days in a broken down Opel, an unsupervised house party, two ‘gator “attacks” (one stuffed, one real), a melt-down in a pirate themed-hotel room, and a glorious all-expenses-paid trip to EPCOT, they’re not just friends—they’re badasses (or “badbottoms” as Jesse would say) to be reckoned with. Not since Thelma and Louise has it felt so good to be this bad. The perfect title to be tossed in your backseat next time you hit the open road with your best buds!
So how big of a nerd am I? Pretty big, my teenage friends. Pretty damn big (well, maybe not this big). So big that when my brand spanking new copies of the revised-and-updated-for-the- ipod-generation Sweet Valley High volumes 1 & 2 came from the publisher (yeah, sometimes it’s kinda cool being an unpaid teen book blogger—you do get some freebies), the first thing I did was run right over to my living room bookshelf and pull down my copies of the original versions, circa 1983 to compare. Yes, dear readers, I am the proud owner of the first 100 original SVH paperbacks, collected through the years from friends and second hand bookstores. When I was in 7th grade, my best friend Amy H. had the whole series sitting pretty on her white painted bookshelf in her huge canopied bed-bedroom, and to exorcise my adolescent envy of that unbroken line of perfect paperbacks (Amy was VERY neat), I was determined to hunt down my own set. Were they completely unrealistic and unapologetically soap opera-ish? Absolutely, but there was just something so reassuring about those perfectly turned out teenage sisters, their wholesome school and agreeable family—Elizabeth was good and Jessica was bad, and you could take that to the bank. Plus, you have to remember, this was 1983. YA literature was in a rut. 
There weren’t a million and one chick lit series to choose from like there are now. It felt like me and my friends graduated right from Beverly Cleary to Danielle Steel and V.C. Andrews. So, what’s the verdict on the new girls? Well, from just a casual perusal, SVH appears to be just as cheesy and squeaky clean as I remember. Now sixteen year old California twins Jessica and Elizabeth have cell phones, drive a red Jeep Wrangler instead of a Fiat, and Elizabeth maintains a blog as well as writing for SVH’s website. But Elizabeth is still pining for captain of the basketball team Todd Wilkins, and Jessica is still chasing anything in pants. Of course, nothing too sexy ever happens in Sweet Valley. In Double Love, when Jessica accidentally gets in over her pretty little head with SVH dropout Rick Andover, a notorious playa, the cops conveniently show up before Jessica’s virtue is threatened. I know, too tame for you, right? But if your little sister keeps stealing your Gossip Girl books and she’s already read all of the Clique, throw these shiny new paperbacks her way. They oughta hold her—at least until the next Clique comes out. And who knows? Maybe she’ll grow to love good old Jessica, Elizabeth, Enid, Todd, Bruce, and the rest of SVH gang as much as me and my Gen-X compatriots did. Now that you’ve traveled down nostalgia lane with me, I’d love it if you would post YOUR memories of your fav series from when you were a kid.
High school sophomore Frankie’s tired of being her blustery dad’s baby bunny and playing sweet lil’ sib to her cool big sis Zada. She’s given the opportunity to prove that she’s more than just a pretty face and a smokin’ pair of legs when she discovers the existence of a boys-only secret society at her older-than-Moses private school. A secret society that her v. popular, v. cute upperclass boyfriend Matthew just happens to be a member of. But Matthew doesn’t know that she knows he belongs to it, and the longer Frankie waits for him to tell her, the more she begins to doubt his feelings for her—if he likes her so much, then why doesn’t he trust her with his deepest, darkest secret? Meanwhile, she’s decided to teach Matthew & crew a little lesson by secretly infiltrating their “Loyal Order of the Bassett Hounds” via email and pretending to be head ‘dawg’ Alessandro “Alpha” Tesorieri, Matthew’s best friend. Alpha’s too embarrassed to admit to the rest of the hounds that he’s not the one perpetrating the amazing pranks that are growing from Frankie’s fertile mind, and also pretty pissed that he can’t figure out who the mystery prankster is. So, who will crack first–Alpha, Frankie, or Matthew? And what will the fallout be when one of them decides to come clean? This rollicking good read, which breaks the mold on the so-called “chick lit.” genre with its crackerjack plot and refreshingly smart heroine, references all sorts of interesting trivial doodads you’re gonna wanna look up, like panopticons, P.G. Wodehouse, and “neglected positives.” It’s also by the ever-inventive E. Lockhart, who just gets better with each book. This one will easily make my top ten of the year, if not one of my favorites of ALL TIME, so go out and get it already, will ya? And don’t blame me if it’s already sold out!
April and Wil have both ended up at Wellness Canyon (read: FAT Camp) for the summer. But while April saved all her babysitting money for a year to attend the exclusive teen weight loss spa, Wil is being forced by her famous fitness parents to go to camp and lose weight—or else! When this unlikely pair is assigned to room together, sparks predictably fly. But when they are both kissed and dismissed by the same “barely chubby” football jock, the unlikely allies partner up in a plan of sweet revenge (can you say, “Ex-Lax?”) This lightweight story about heavy issues pairs well with Cherie Bennett’s Life in the Fat Lane or Myrtle of Willendorf by Rebecca O’Connell. It also reminded me of the fav fat camp story from my youth, Jelly Belly
Fifteen-year-old Scarlett Martin lives in and helps operate a seen-better-days boutique hotel in Manhattan with her parents and three siblings: aspiring actor/big brother Spencer, sacrificial older sister Lola, and bratty little sister Marlene. Ever since Marlene had to be hospitalized for cancer a few years ago, the family’s finances have been depleted to the point where the Martins are barely keeping their feather dusters above water in the competitive New York City hotel business. Now each Martin has to pitch in to keep the drowning Hopewell hotel afloat, and while Scarlettt doesn’t mind doing her share, she wishes her upcoming summer could be about more than changing sheets and airing curtains. Enter Mrs. Amberson, a rich, aging diva with loads of attitude and connections. She books a room in the Hopewell for the summer with the intention of writing her autobiography and reliving the halcyon days of her storied youth, and quickly hires Scarlett as both audience and assistant. Having Mrs. A around will certainly liven up Scarlett’s weak-ass summer. But when the past-her-prime starlet starts dishing out unwanted advice about Scarlett’s barely-there love life, while simultaneously taking and making over Spencer’s struggling Shakespeare company, Scarlett realizes that Mrs. A may be way more than what the doctor ordered for her summertime blues. This madcap romantic comedy is my new favorite Maureen Johnson title. Like the classic movies Breakfast at Tiffany’s, or Philadelphia Story, it is full of witty repartee and blithe banter, especially between Scarlett and her beloved brother Spencer. (Methinks it was inspired in part by some of the playful word jousting that goes on in real life between Maureen and her good friend, fellow YA author John Green. Want to see some of it? Click here.) In addition, Johnson includes several sections from “guidebooks” about the imaginary Hopewell that lets readers know a bit about it’s glorious past, which read like love odes to some of the great NYC historical hotels (like the real Algonquin, which has quite a literary legacy) Whether you’re looking for a romantic romp, brilliant back-and-forth dialogue, or just a great New York story, Suite Scarlett is the book for you! (and how interesting that the cover model looks remarkably like another Scarlett : planned? or coincidence?) Reservations can be made at any library or bookstore near you.
Kayla and her best friend Rosalie have always viewed themselves as radical feminists warriors in the battle against society’s rampant mental and physical oppression of women. But now loud-mouth Rosalie wants laid-back Kayla to put her burgeoning investigative journalism skills to work by trying out for their school dance squad, The Lady Lions. Rosalie is sure the stacked dance crew won’t have anything to do with Kayla, because even though she’s got moves, Kayla’s a card-carrying member of the “itty bitty” A-cup club. Rosalie’s plan is for Kayla to write a scathing expose of the Lady Lions and their discrimination of those who happen to be bosom-ly challenged. But to both of their amazement, Kayla makes the team, and to her own surprise, actually likes being a Lady Lion. The dance squad girls aren’t nearly as snooty as she imagined, and really seem to want to be friends. But how can Kayla make her bossy BFF understand that she can be a feminist AND a proud, girl-power performer? Newcomer Sherri Winston’s story of a girl on the verge of discovering who she really is and what she stands for is sassy and outrageously funny. Winston’s message that girls can be both feminine and feminist is especially powerful in our current “girls gone wild” American society. And the appended lexicon of “Kayla-isms,” Kayla’s innovative made-up vocab for every occasion, probably won’t be long finding its way into teen text messages everywhere. I’m a personal fan of “crunktacular: an event that’s very nature is hyped-up, psyched-out, and leads to extra-wild reactions” and “blind-sexy: when someone looks so good even a blind person would go, ‘Mmm!’”
Fifteen-year-old Meredith is trying to catch a criminal. This terrifying man abused the trust of his small community when he used his position as a school baseball coach to molest children. Sentenced to nine years in prison, he’s been paroled after only three years–and now he’s coming home. You see, Meredith knows him better than anyone, because he’s not just a face in the newspaper–he’s also her father. He may have fooled the parole board, but he hasn’t fooled her. Meredith has come to the awful conclusion that if she wants to make sure he never hurts anyone else ever again, she’s going to need proof of his continued sickness, even if she has to use herself as bait: “I know now that I’m the only one who really understands the threat and if I’m ever going to be free of him…then I will have to bite the bullet and spend time in his company. Stake out the sacrificial lamb. Uncoil the rope so he can hang himself.” I burned through this devastating read in one subway commute, and I’m still shaking from the impact. This chilling debut by Laura Wiess is horrifically real in its depiction of not only adults who abuse but also those who stand by and let it happen. But Wiess balances these descriptions with the angry, amazing Meredith, who’s character showcases the hidden strength of teens and their ability to heal in the face of overwhelming odds. While the transcendent ending makes the horror of getting there all worth it, don’t pick up this book unless you’re ready to travel with Meredith to the deepest, darkest corners of the human soul.
Mean Girls meets The Age of Innocence
Katy is so safe, so closed up and locked down, that when punk Goth-girl Lake meets her for the first time, she dubs Katy “Beige.” But how else is Katy supposed to act? As the product of a punk-rock love affair between Rat, the recovering drug addict-drummer of the infamous band Suck, and her mom, a reformed groupie who is now a buttoned up archeologist, Katy is terrified to let her true self out in case she ends up repeating her parents’ mistakes. So she smiles sweetly and does what she’s told, even when her mom tells her she’s going on an archelogical dig to Peru, which means Katy’s gonna have to spend the whole summer with her dad, who she barely knows. Talk about SUCK! Now Katy’s steady-eddie temperament is being sorely tested by her chatty, tattooed dad, who never seems to know when to shut up, his loud music, and his best friend’s teenage daughter Lake, who’s been bribed into hanging out with Katy. As I said before, Lake thinks Katy’s beige. Will Katy be able to prove that underneath her unruffled manner she’s really fuchsia? This rockin’ read from Plain Jane Cecil Castellucci is all about not being afraid to show your true colors. And even though it’s a book, it’s got a sweet soundtrack—just download the song titles that start each chapter to get an audio idea of Katy’s state of mind as she moves from beige to brilliant! Want more Cecil? The check out her other anti-chick-lit, Boy Proof.
On the surface, seventh graders Kirsten and Walk couldn’t be more different. Kirsten is an overweight secret eater who hides her unhappiness over her parents’ constant fighting behind mountains of candy bars and bags of potato chips. Walk is a smart loner trying to make it as one of the only black students in Kirsten’s mostly white private school. But they become unexpected friends when Walk stands up for Kirsten when she is falsely accused of stealing a teacher’s wallet. When they each begin to talk about their new friendship at home, their families become suspicious, and neither Kirsten nor Walk can understand why. Is it because Kirsten is white and Walk is black? While that seems to be the rationale at first, there is another reason their parents don’t want them to become friends, a secret that will shake the growing tree of their relationship to its very roots when they find out. What looks like a benign school story from its innocent, colorful cover is actually a pretty deep read that will challenge the way you think about race and economic class, and help you understand that even though they often try to convince you otherwise, adults mess up too. And if you haven’t read her stuff before, you’ll definitely want to go back and check out Choldenko’s hip historical fiction, Al Capone Does My Shirts.
Ever since the hospital she was born in was hit by lightning, PK (preacher’s kid) Jean Honeychurch has been plagued with bad luck, so much so that her friends and family have dubbed her Jinx. When her run of ill fortune results in her high school boyfriend turning stalker, Jean’s parents decide that a change of venue might be just the thing to turn her luck around. So Jean journeys from rural Iowa to the Upper East Side of Manhattan to stay with relatives and start over in a new private school. Feeling very much the country bumpkin, Jean is more than a little worried about fitting in with her sophisticated city slicker cousin, Tory. But hottie-next-door Zach, who shows her around school and introduces her to the delicious world of NYC take-out, soon allays her fears. Unfortunately, this doesn’t sit well with Tory, who has a crush in Zach herself. Will Jean’s bad luck draw Tory’s ire and cause her to lose Zach’s friendship? Or does this seemingly bumbling preacher’s daughter, who spills and trips through life, actually have a trick or two up her sleeve? This Charmed-meets-7th Heaven story, while not quite as sexy as its cover might imply, is nevertheless a sweetly entertaining read that makes a perfect posting for Friday the 13th! Full of Cabot’s bubbling good humor and go-down-easy prose, Jinx should join Meg’s other light and frothy reads (How to be Popular, Avalon High) on the beach towel this summer.
Oh, E. Lockhart, could I love you more? I thought my love was complete after reading The Boyfriend List 
Laine can’t quite believe that Leah Green, her one time best friend, is dead. But Laine was there when Leah ran off the road and wrapped her black sports car around a tree. And while she feels both guilt and shame, her biggest feeling is relief. Because now she’ll finally be able to come out from under the shadow beautiful, popular Leah has cast over her life since fifth grade. When they were little, Leah used to take Laine into her toy closet to “practice” what they would do with boys when they grew up. Then Leah maliciously used the secret of the closet to blackmail Laine into doing what Leah wanted. Why wouldn’t Leah just leave Laine alone? How could she have been so kind and so brutal at the same time? Laine tries to figure out the reasons behind Leah’s cruel manipulations in the days after her death, and as she explores each “lesson from a dead girl,” she begins to understand Leah was part of a cycle of abuse—a cycle that Laine can now bring to an end. This suspenseful, disturbing debut will help older teen readers understand that abusers are victims, too. If you enjoy the emotional, gritty work of E.R. Frank or Ellen Hopkins, you’re gonna love Jo Knowles.
V is an addict. But not to any of the usual things: food, drugs, alcohol. No, V’s not an alcoholic—she’s a guyaholic. Every time V is reminded of the fact that her mom Aimee dumped V on her grandparents so she could chase yet another romantic interest across the country, V ends up seeking her own hottie to drown her sorrows in. Until she is hit in the head with a hockey puck and comes to in the arms of gentle Sam, the first boy who wants to be more to her than just another make-out partner. But V’s addiction is strong, and she ends up breaking Sam’s heart just when she needs him the most. V decides the only way to purge her feelings of anger and loss towards her mother is to find Aimee and force her to spend time with only daughter. But on her way to her mom, V ends up taking an entirely different journey where she discovers the secret to curing her addiction and the way back into Sam’s arms. This short, sassy companion novel to Mackler’s Vegan Virgin Valentine manages to be caustically funny, while imparting the very important message that you can only run from your feelings for so long before you must deal! V is a train wreck for sure, but a very funny one, and will leave many readers nodding in recognition over her self-destructive but completely understandable behavior.
When sixteen year old Gretchen Yee casually wishes to be a fly on the wall of the boys’ locker room in order to see if they really are as moronic as they seem, she never expects the powers that be to take her up on it. But lo and behold, suddenly Gretchen (who loves Spiderman and has been reading The Metamorphasis by Kafka) has sprouted multiple legs, wings, and antennae. She has become exactly what she wished for, and in the week she calls the boys’ locker room home, when she’s not fighting the overwhelming fear that she may never be human again, she learns some very interesting facts about the opposite sex. Gretchen sees all their faults, flaws, and surprising strengths; sees her crush Titus stand up to bully Shane, sees boys get beat up as they shower up, and finds out first hand that they are as obsessed with their “gerkins” as girls are with their “biscuits.” Speaking of which, will Gretchen ever get her own “biscuits” back, and finally be able to tell Titus how much she digs him? It’s great to watch life from the wall, but when it’s time to come down, you have to act on what you’ve learned. Jewish/Chinese-American Gretchen, compulsive cartooner and artificial redhead, is a breath of fresh punk air in a pinky blush world of chickety-chick lit. I would totally love this bad-ass little pink book, even if it wasn’t lovingly set in my adopted hometown of NYC, and didn’t mention one of my favorite places of all time, The Angelika Film Center.
Sixteen-year-old Tessa gets smacked in the head with an orange volleyball during gym class and suddenly she’s airborn, moving toward that bright light in the sky, which bears a striking resemblance to the local mall. It makes sense that Tessa’s heaven would look like the mall, since that’s where she experienced most of the seminal moments of her life: buying her first bra, scoring her lucky red t-shirt, trying on prom dresses. But it’s also where she shoplifted, cheated, and lied to friends. When Tessa takes a trip to the sweet mall hereafter, she is forced to deal with the fact that she hasn’t always been the nicest person. Can this committed mall rat change her wicked ways? Or is she doomed to wander the wide waxed corridors of heaven forever? While Tessa isn’t always a character you can root for, she is always one you can empathize with. Wendy Mass’s sharply observed verse novel looks a lot like a winner. Ride this escalator all the way to the top!
When Steph Landry discovers a dusty old self-help book in a friend’s attic called How to be Popular, she believes she’s found the answer to all her problems. Ever since 6th grade, when she accidentally spilled a Big Red Super Big Gulp on Queen Bee Lauren Moffat’s white D&G skirt, Steph has been branded as a loser. Lauren has even gone as far as to make the whole school refer to any mistake made as “pulling a Steph.” Now it’s the beginning of junior year, and Steph is determined to make a new start. With a little help from “the Book,” her kindly (and wealthy) grandpa, who loans her enough money for a new wardrobe, and a winning attitude, Steph manages to create and organize a successful school fundraiser, woo away Lauren’s boyfriend, and collect a new batch of cool friends, all in the first week of school! But when she ends up alienating all her old friends, (especially Jason, her BFF, and possibly more) and her new crowd puts pressure on her to host a kegger on her grandpa’s property, Steph has to decide if being popular is really worth all the hassle! Using her trademark gentle humor and John Hughes-like understanding of teen angst, Meg Cabot has penned yet another enjoyable chick lit that reads quickly and goes down easy.
Annabel Greene’s life looks perfect. She has loving parents, a gorgeous house, and two beautiful older sisters who work with her in a local modeling agency. Her best friend Sophie, rules the school as Queen Bee Extreme, and Annabel goes along for the ride to all the best parties with all the coolest people. But looks can be deceiving. Annabel hates modeling and wants to quit, but doesn’t want to upset her depression-prone mom. One of her perfect older sisters has an eating disorder. And Sophie dumped Annabel hard last year after accusing her of trying to hook up with Sophie’s boyfriend. Annabel stuffs it all down, hoping that if she doesn’t acknowledge what her perfect life has become, it will all go away. Enter indie-music outsider Owen Armstrong. Owen gives Annabel a ride home from school after a particularly nasty Sophie attack, and slowly begins to pull Annabel out of her shell with his brassy, opinionated personality. There’s only one problem. Owen is a truth-teller. And the last thing Annabel wants to tell, or hear, is the truth. Slow, thoughtful, and thought-provoking like all of Sarah Dessen’s marvelous chick lit, Just Listen is a quiet story of a girl in crisis who learns that life is about taking charge even when it seems like you have lost all control.
What if King Arthur, his lady Guinevere, and his best friend Lancelot were reincarnated as teenagers in an affluent suburb of Washington D.C.? And what if all the drama of Camelot was being played out again in the hallways of Avalon High, where new student Elaine arrives just in time to fall for Arthur (known in this life as Will) and stop the forces of darkness from destroying him again? Is Will really the latest version of the mythical ruler? Elaine doesn’t believe it, but almost against her will, she is slowly pulled into the timeless story of love, jealousy, and betrayal and given her role to play. Elaine may think she’s only helping a new friend, but she just may be saving all of mankind! Meg Cabot re-casts the Arthurian legend with quarterbacks and cheerleaders, class presidents and track stars, and the result is one funny, romantic romp that will leave readers believing that heroes really can rise again and you don’t have to be a princess to win the heart of a king!
Laura Truman, Jace Torres and Chloe Thomas were best friends all through junior high. Then, high school happened, and they grew apart. Now, it’s time for their senior prom, and Laura wants to bring the three”T’s” together again for old times sake. There’s only one problem: the T’s couldn’t be further apart in the high school social strata. Laura’s a popular beauty, Jace is an accomplished athlete, and Chloe is, well, just Chloe. But when Laura decides to mobilize, nothing stands in her way, not even the fact that Chloe doesn’t have the remotest possibility of snagging a date. Somehow, someway, with lots of miscommunications, coy conversations, and phone calls to total strangers, Laura not only gets Chloe a date, but also plans and manages to pull off the perfect prom night for everyone - except herself. Full of hilarious dialogue, romantic tension, and back-stabbing high school politics, this modern comedy of manners will resound with anyone who a) went to prom, b) skipped prom, c) went and wished they didn’t, or d) skipped it and wished they went.
Victoria doesn’t believe in boys. They just exist to break your heart. That’s why she’s adopted the completely boy-proof persona of her fav sci-fi movie star, Egg. Egg is bad, bald, and tougher than nails, so when Victoria is wearing her Egg cloak, she feels sufficiently protected from the slings and arrows of that troublemaker Cupid. That is, until just the right boy comes along with the ability to crack Egg’s shell wide open…yes, this is that “girl meets boy, girl hates boy, then girl crushes on boy” book. But with a fun twist—unlike many of the pink-lipsticked gossip gurls in bookstores these days, Victoria is a science fiction geek with a professional movie monster maker for a dad, and a failed scream queen actress for a mom. This makes for all sorts of interesting secondary situations that add to Victoria’s boy hating angst. Boy Proof is just different enough to draw your attention away from those 50 thousand other pastel-jacketed teen chick lit books vying for your allowance dollars.
High school senior Ashley Hannigan isn’t anybody’s idea of a princess. She’s just a normal girl from a working class family in Philly, with too many brothers and not enough privacy. Her dad and brothers decorate the house according to the sports season, while her mom drives a city bus and thinks that Madonna’s Like A Virgin phase was, and still is, high fashion. Ashley just wants to graduate and get the hell out of her parent’s crowded house. So how does this blue-collar Cinderella end up not only with the requisite pink dress and “fairy” godmother,(her best friend’s Russian immigrant grandma, who doesn’t speak English) but also being in charge of the entire senior prom?! Well, it’s not easy, and it’s not magic, either! Written in response to readers asking for a story about a “regular girl” who isn’t super rich or a wannabe pop princess, Laurie Anderson’s Prom is a well-crafted tale of a girl who is neither victim or wonder. Just like a girl you know—or are.
Birdie is a selfish, self-involved thirteen year old who practically defines the word, “spoiled.” Morgan is a brooding, dark seventeen year old who has lived her life at sea and scarcely knows how to talk to people. How in the world do these two people, as opposite as they can be, not only become friends but end up saving each other’s lives? It has something to do with beans, pirates, moonlit beaches, and a whole lot of drama. Getting to the bottom of Deep is well worth the literary swim. Take deep breath and dive in!
Jen is pretty depressed. Not just one, but two people very close to her have committed suicide in a short time. The only thing she can do is wear her pain very publicly on her sleeve by forcing people to call her Jinx instead of Jen, because it’s obviously bad luck to know her. Lovingly supported by her mom, friends, and intuitive little sister, Jinx will have learn how to make her way back to being Jen. Told in spare verse format, Jinx is a story that very powerfully illustrates the old adage that the things that don’t kill us make us stronger.
