The Sweet, Terrible, Glorious Year I Truly, Completely Lost It
Lisa Shanahan, . . Delacorte, $15.99 (304pp) ISBN 978-0-385-73516-2
Australian picture-book author and middle-grade novelist Shanahan's first book for teens is an uproariously funny, surprisingly intense read; a savvy blend of sharp wit and weight grounds its otherwise over-the-top humor. As 14-year-old Gemma Stone explains, “In our family, when anyone starts riding the big wave of their emotions, we say they're chucking a birkett,” Birkett being the name of her older sister Debbie's last “disastrous” boyfriend. Most of the birketts are thrown by Dad and Debbie, Gemma's soon-to-be-married older sister. But now that Gemma's getting older and trying to figure out who she is and what she wants, her propensity for blowing an emotional circuit have increased exponentially—especially in matters of love. When she's cast as Miranda in her school's production of
Reviewed on: 08/13/2007
Genre: Children's
Library Binding - 297 pages - 978-0-385-90505-3
Open Ebook - 1 pages - 978-0-375-89115-1
Paperback - 297 pages - 978-0-440-24054-9