Prom and Prejudice

Prom & Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg (NY: Point, 2011).

In this re-envisioning of Austen's classic novel, Lizzie Bennett is a scholarship student at a high-end girls' prep school called Longbourn Academy. Jane is her kind-hearted roommate, and Charles Bingley and Will Darcy are boys at Pemberley Academy. Aside from Jane and Charlotte, another scholarship student, Lizzie avoids her mean-spirited classmates who tormented her from the day she started at Longbourn simply because she's not rich. Jane likes Charles and is hoping he'll ask her to prom, which is a hugely important social occasion for juniors at Longbourn. Lizzie and Will clash from the start, with Lizzie assuming Will is as snobby as his classmates, especially when she overhears him remarking to Charles about her scholarship status.

Prom & Predudice is a fun, lightweight read, with very little of the social satire of its original, which is fine, since getting a date for prom and finding a husband are entirely different matters. Recommended for ages 13 & up.

By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead

By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead by Julie Anne Peter (NY: Hyperion, 2010).

Daelyn Rice is known as a freak at her latest school, a private girls' academy. She can't talk and she wears a neck brace--she's recovering from reconstructive surgery on her esophagus that she damaged in her latest in a string of botched suicides. Now she's determined to succeed and, with the help of a countdown website for "completers" called through-the-light.com, organizes for her final suicide attempt. She answers questions, selects her method, and even journals about the bullying and abuse she's endured her entire school career that have contributed to her death wish. Her parents blithely believe that monitoring her web access will stop her from visiting suicide boards, but Daelyn enlists the aid of a boy who happens to live next to her school and who persistently sits with her while she waits for her ride after school every day. He loans her a netbook and also becomes something to her, a friend? Daelyn doesn't really know since her life has been devoid of friendship. She's likewise unsure about the one girl among the usual crowd of mean ones at the school who is actually nice to Daelyn.

None of these topics is particularly new, but Peters's matter-of-fact presentation cuts deeply. Daelyn isn't crying for help, yet she elicits sympathy, even as she dispassionately evaluates various suicide methods. Her parents' apparent blindness to their daughter's suffering seems oddly believable. Although the book ends on Daelyn's last day, her ultimate end is left unstated, a fitting conclusion to this sad, sad story.

Recommended for teens, ages 14 & up. Intense situations & disturbing content.

Weighty Issues, #1

Looks by Madeleine George (NY: Penguin, 2008)

This novel sticks in your head for a long time. At least it did for me. I read it more than a year ago, probably when it first came out, and the images from it kept popping back to me. I couldn't remember the title or author, but I remembered how accurately the author had captured the devastating effects of high school bullying on a friendless girl who is different from everyone else. In this case, the girl is obese, but since so many adolescents feel this type of isolation, her case can apply to nearly any teen who feels desperately alone and put upon because of her appearance or some other perceived defect.

Meghan Ball strives for invisibility, and it's amazing how often she is overlooked, despite her enormous size. Meghan recognizes a kindred spirit in new girl Aimee Zorn, although Aimee is as thin as Meghan is heavy. Aimee initially resists Meghan's overtures, but when Meghan's warnings about a girl who pretends to befriend Aimee turn out to be true, Aimee turns to Meghan for help. Meghan manages to conceive and help execute a plan that helps not only Aimee, but herself. This is not to say that the novel has a happy shiny ending, but circumstances are improved for both girls because they have each other.

Recommended for teens, grades 7 and up. Some sexual innuendos, teenage cruelty, moderate language.