Zitface

Olivia Hughes has it all: beauty, popularity, boys, roles in national commercials—what could go wrong? The title gives an indication, and when Olivia's face begins to break out in enormous pimples for the first time, she is horrified. So is her savvy mother, who doesn't want these blemishes to get in the way of Olivia's earning power. When Olivia's breakouts worsen, becoming the "hard, blistery" variety, the 13-year-old begins to despair. But zits are not the end of the world—that is the clear, at times heavy-handed message of Howse's first novel; the author, herself a child actress and acne sufferer, does not shy away from graphic descriptions of acne (and rather clinical conversations about treatment). Perhaps the excessive positive aspects of Olivia's lucky life are meant to counteract the horrors of her breakouts. Zit woes aside, she's almost unbelievably well adjusted, and her voice too often sounds moralizing ("I was determined to cut down on meat and dairy. Besides sparing innocent animals, it also might help my skin"). Overall, the book feels designed more to reassure than to entertain. Ages 12–up. (Apr.)