Girlfriend Material

Girlfriend Material by Melissa Kantor (NY: Hyperion, 2009)

This novel explores many different types of relationships, not just romantic ones, as the title might imply. Sixteen-year-old Kate's summer plans change dramatically when her mom and dad decide to spend some time apart, which ends up meaning that Kate and her mom fly to Cape Cod from their Salt Lake City home to spend the summer with some old friends of her mom's. Kate remembers having a great time ten years earlier with their daughter, so she agrees to go, albeit reluctantly. Many struggles await Kate as she tries to make sense of emotional complexities she's never had to deal with before--her best friend dating a jock, her mother flirting with an old friend, the daughter treating Kate like an old sock, her own attempts to find a comfort zone in a completely different environment where she has to adjust her expectations--about herself and everyone else--regularly. High school readers will enjoy this coming-of-age novel. Language, mature themes.