Book Review - Dangerously Alice, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Dangerously Alice

It's here. Well, almost. I actually had to interlibrary loan the book because the Homewood copy wasn't ready quite yet. The latest installment in Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's beloved "Alice" series hit bookstore and library shelves two weeks ago. Yay! For those of you unfamiliar with the series, it started when titular character Alice McKinley was in elementary school, and has followed her growth up into adolescence, in over a dozen novels. At the beginning of their junior year, Alice and her longtime good friends Pamela and Elizabeth find themselves at odds with and judged by some of their old crowd. The book follows Alice's many attempts to shake her goody two-shoes image. Perpetually portrayed at falling somewhere in between the religious, rather innocent Elizabeth, and the adventurous, spunk Pamela, Alice flirts with "dangers" like riding a motorcycle, going to a dance with an older guy, and "running away" for a newspaper article. For the first time in the series, Alice becomes a little sassy, and it gives the book an interesting twist. Just how much will she sass her stepmother - the teacher she once set up with her father - and just how far will she go in proving she's no wuss?

Naylor has legions of fans boasting their love and appreciation of the "Alice" titles, and surely, this one will not disappoint.

* * * *
(four stars)

Book Review - Anatomy of a Boyfriend, by Daria Snadowsky

There's just something about reading a whole book in one sitting. One, it has to be a really, really good book for this to be an enjoyable experience. (So that means that when I read the 800-page Mysteries of Udolpho in one sitting during college, I wasn't enjoying myself.) When the book is so good you don't take a pee break and keep putting off dinner, well, that's really something.

Anatomy of a Boyfriend, the debut novel by Daria Snadowsky, is just that good. Dominique, known to her friends as Dom, goes after what she wants. A senior in high school, she's only applying to the top schools in the country, hoping to go pre-med, and she's on the Science Quiz team. Wes is the first guy she's ever wanted that's available, but getting together with him isn't easy. He's as hesitant, nervous, and unexperienced as she. This book is very similar to Judy Blume's Forever. In its unwavering honesty, it is true to the teenager experience, not leaving out any of the details. This book is flying off the shelves at libraries (I've waited months to get my hands on it, and I'm the librarian!), and for good reason. You'll laugh, cringe, and maybe cry a little bit, following Dom through the end of her senior year and on to college.

Check out this neat thing they put online - build a boyfriend!

* * * * *
(five stars)

Book Review - Cures for Heartbreak, by Margo Rabb

Fourteen-year-old Mia's mother goes to the hospital one day complaining of a stomachache. Twelve days later, after learning she had cancer, she dies. "Cures for Heartbreak" follows Mia through her mother's brief illness and the aftermath, which holds further tragedy. Despite the great deal of sadness that is in this book, I still found myself laughing and smiling so often at Mia's insights and the way she navigates the world, her family downsized to just her father and sister. Each chapter of the story could easily function as a short story, but combined, the chapters turn the book into a powerful statement about what it is to be human in the face of great loss. "Cures of Heartbreak" is laugh-out-loud funny, but also realistic, moving, and even romantic.

* * * * * (five stars)