10. Pants on Fire

Pants On Fire. by Meg Cabot. Narrator: Krista Sutton. Listening Library.

Annotation: Katie has it all: A hot football-play boyfriend, a hot boyfriend on the side, a great best fried Sidney, and a great job at the Gull and Gulp. When a blast from the past comes back to town, she re-evaluates her values and learns how to be herself without trying to please everyone else.

Nomination for Rejection: Katie's story takes place during the summer before her Senior year at Eastport High. She is in the popular group and has a popular boyfriend, Seth. Seth is a football player for the Quahogs, who are all treated like royalty in her town, where football is everything. Katie works at a busy tourist-y restaurant where the corner booth is ALWAYS reserved for whenever any Quahogs want to come in to eat and hang out. They are worshiped by all who live in Eastport, and have been an undefeated team for many years...except one.

The year they didn't win is not often spoken of, but Tommy Sullivan ratted out some players that cheated on their tests and were forced to forfeit the game and take a loss. This has left everyone in town hating Tommy and he hasn't been seen since. When he comes back to town, Katie is shocked and angry with him. She soon develops a crush on him, and is in a tough position. Tommy teaches her a lot about being true to herself (and others) and not caring so much about what people think.

This was a great book with some good values for teens to learn, but I have decided to reject it due to its predictability. The story is very interesting and well-written, but I always knew what was going to come next.

Genre: Audio book, YA fiction, Humor, Coming of Age

9. The Princess Diaries

The Princess Diaries. Meg Cabot. 2000. Harper Collins. New York, New York.

Annotation: Mia Thermopolis is a 9th grader living with her mother in New York. She thinks she looks like a "freak", gets made fun of by the popular girls, and is not having trouble in Algebra. Everything changes when she finds out the she is the Princess of Genovia.

Justification for nomination: Meg Cabot does a great job conveying the main character, Mia, in this diary-style book. Mia suffers from self confidence issues, thinking her "hair looks like a yield sign", she is flat chested, too tall, and has huge feet. She is also very embarrassed that her mother is dating her Algebra teacher. Just when she thinks things can't get any worse, she recieves a surprise visit from her father, who lives in Genovia. He drops a bomb on her, saying that she is the only heir to the throne of Genovia, and is a princess. Mia goes beserk. She is upset that her parents lied to her this whole time, that she may have to move far away from her best friend, Lilly, and she does NOT want to be a princess. In this hilarious story, Mia goes through a transformation from the shy girl she once was, into an assertive, confident, happy young woman.

I loved this book because Meg did such a great job speaking to her teenage audience, and the whole story is very entertaining and funny. Any teen girl who ever dreampt of becoming a Princess or celebrity, or just wants to be recognized will love this tale of Mia Thermopolis.

Genre: YA Fiction, Humor, ALEX Award winner, coming of age.

8. Go Ask Alice

Go Ask Alice. Anonymous. 1971. Simon and Schuster. New York, New York.

Annotation: This book is based on the diary of an un-named 15 year old girl struggling to fit it. She gets LSD slipped into her Coke at a party, and winds up in a turbulent cycle of drug addiction over the next year. She documents her struggles to stay clean in this diary.

Justification for Rejection: The author of the diary describes her experiences with drugs very vividly, which took place during the sixties or seventys. As I read about her dramatic change from the shy, unconfident girl to an out-of-control teen that would do anything to get her next fix, I could not help but feel for her. It was very interesting and intruiging to read about what went on in her mind when she was high or out on the streets without her parents knowing where she was. It really was a page-turner, and the book was very eventful. I thought it was a very good book that provided a great documentation of a young girl struggling with addiction, I would not nominated the book. At some points in the book, I found it a little difficult to believe that the author was really a teen girl and whether the book was fiction or non fiction.

Genre: Edgy/banned. Coming of Age. Fiction?