Bloggrls

sistrsic92 (Meg) by Cheryl Dellasega. Illustrated by Tyler Beauford (Tarrytown, NY: Marshall Cavendish, 2009).

This is the 2nd book in the Bloggrls series that features girls (obviously) using popular abbreviated texting language to chronicle their angst in a weblog to a few select VBFs (very best friends).

Meg is a classic younger sister who feels dwarfed by her older sister Cara's beauty, intelligence, and popularity. With great humor, she contrasts herself to T2P2 (The Totally Perfect Person)--including a side-by-side features list. Yes, Cara seems to have it all, and Meg (also known as Eggy to her family and friends) is struggling with everything--friends, appearance, school. Meg is a good artist, though, and "her" drawings complement the story nicely.

The story takes a serious turn when Cara develops an eating disorder that destabilizes Meg's family and her prior assumptions about her sister's perfection.

Enjoyable teen read with excellent information about eating disorders. Sexual content. Grades 7 & up.

Madapple

Madapple by Christina Meldrum (NY: Knopf, 2008).

This highly fascinating and unusual novel alternates between two perspectives: that of the court room trial of 16-year-old Aslaug and Aslaug's biographical narrative. Meldrum skillfully weaves an illusive tale of intrigue and family drama. While the trial shows some of the "facts" behind the trial, Aslaug's narrative muddies the waters, showing how "facts" conceal underlying truths, or even dispel the possibility of any truth. Aslaug's mother Maren kept Aslaug isolated for years, telling her she was the product of a virgin birth. Aslaug grows up in a world of nature and science, learning much about plants and mythology. The eponymous madapple, or jimson weed, casts a mysterious veil over the plot as well, its hallucinogenic and toxic properties muddling the truth. After her mother dies, Aslaug finds and then lives with her aunt and two cousins. In the end, Aslaug is accused of murdering her aunt and one of her cousins with the circumstances slowly revealed in both the court transcript and the narrative.

Grades 7&up. Sexual situations, drugs, teen pregnancy.

Title Censored

Castration Celebration by Jake Wizner (NY: Random House, 2009)

Olivia and Max literally trip over each other on the first day of a summer arts camp at Yale University. Olivia is working on frank, boy bashing musical to help cope with a difficult family situation--she walked in on her professor father receiving oral sex from a graduate student. Max is an actor--and a guy who always scores with the ladies. Max decides he likes Olivia, etc., etc. Despite its unfortunate title, this novel is OK, but not great, especially if you like lots and lots (and lots) of lewd, off color jokes and penis humor. Definitely NOT one for the middle school/junior high library.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (1999)

In this stunningly poignant epistolary novel, Charlie pours out all his fears and feelings about his first year of high school to an anonymous "friend," someone who apparently could have taken advantage of a sexual situation and did not. For Charlie, this is important, though the full significance does not become clear to the reader until the novel's end. Charlie seems timid and scared; he weeps often and abundantly, yet he is strong enough to push through all the tribulations and amazing firsts that high school brings--facing down bullies, the cafeteria quagmire, burgeoning sexuality, shifting family dynamics, making friends, facing new social situations. He's a quirky bundle of nerves, wound up tight, swerving erratically over this bumpy road that is adolescence. He's a survivor yet the vastness threatens to overwhelm him at every turn. The clarity of detail, the sheer terror, pervades every word, every sentence. Horror and comedy intermingle; strength of character prevails, yet this novel probes and punctures every adolescent cliche and leaves them all tattered.