Boy Proof

Boy Proof
by Cecil Castellucci
Candlewick Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
2005
ISBN: 0763627968Plot Summary:
Egg is a loner: although she's surrounded by other science-fiction fan geeks, comic book lovers, and Hollywood kids, she still can't shake the feeling that it's her against the world. Her mother doesn't get her, her dad only loves his special effects gear, the kids at school with the same interests as hers just bore her. Then, suddenly, Max Carter arrives: a new kid who gets along with everyone, is super smart, and likes everything she likes.
Egg keeps her distance, and the more Max tries to befriend her, the more she pushes him away. Him and everybody else.
Critical Evaluation:
Boy Proof moves quickly, Egg's days and nights passing according to the slights she accumulates. The moments are measured in a diaristic fashion---each chapter beginning with the location and time of day. Experiences that take place online are noted as well as those at school, home, and the comic book shop. The tale is told through Egg's voice, so the moments she is describing are relentlessly solitary, self-pitying, and alienating. The tone is not grating, however, and instead its relentlessness works to mirror the heightened emotions Egg is experiencing.
Reader's Annotation:
Egg's not sure why she hates everyone, she just does. But after awhile, her fatigue of everyone else just becomes fatigue with herself. Can Egg get over herself and find her own way?
Author Info:
Cecil Castellucci is an author of young adult novels and comic books, most notably Boy Proof and The PLAIN Janes. Upcoming in 2009 are a bunch of short stories in The Eternal Kiss, Sideshow and Interfictions 2 and the anthology, which she co-edited, Geektastic.
Genre:
YA fiction/ Romance
Booktalking Ideas:
*Is Egg a sympathetic narrator or a pain in the ass?
*Can Egg finally figure out how to be happy?
*Do her friends and family really "see" her? Or is she as invisible as she believes?
Reader Level/ Interest Age:
Marketed as a YA romance, but its wonderfully descriptive emotional states and rhythms make it enjoyable for any reader interested in emotional pain and the possibility of change.
Challenges:
Themes are emotionally mature, yet situations are never risque or explicit.
Why Include?:
A wise friend recommended it, and she's never been wrong so far...

Ready or Not

Ready or Not
Meg Cabot
Harper Collins
New York
2005
ISBN: 0060724501

Plot Summary:
Samantha has been (in)famous in the city of Washington, D.C. ever since she put her own life in jeopardy to save the life of the President of the United States. Since then she's dodged merry photographic tourists and fallen in love with the President's son. She's having a tough semester: juggling her new job and revolutionary co-worker; drawing a naked guy in her art class; attempting to understand her older/prettier sister's attraction to a nerd; and understanding her accelerating sexual feelings towards David...and his towards her.
Critical Evaluation:
Samantha's story is regularly juxtaposed with a series of lists citing her woes, catastrophes, and fleeting moments of peace and happiness. These lists attempt to reflect the waterfall of emotions and confusions flooding her daily life. The lists and the narration are told through Samantha's voice and and seen through her eyes. This is not a unique authorial tactic, yet it is part of the weakness and glibness which permeates the tale. Neither very funny nor overly intuitive, the story relies on the hopes of over-identification with the narrator. However, she's just not that interesting.
Reader's Annotation:
Book two of the All American Girl series follows Samantha as she attempts to navigate her growing sexual feelings towards David, her mystification throughout her life-drawing class, and her outrage at the President's tactical use of "moral values." What does Samantha really want and how patient is her boyfriend?
Author Info:
Meg Cabot is the best-selling author of the YA series The Princess Diaries in addition to the All-American Girl series--of which Ready or Not is the second book. Cabot has written several other young adult novels and adult mystery novels, and is at work on a middle-reader series.
Genre:
Romance/ YA fiction/sexual coming-of-age
Booktalking Ideas:
*Samantha loves her boyfriend...but is she ready for a sexual relationship?
*What is Lucy's attraction to her tutor based on?
*Why does the President's speech at her high school evoke such a strong reaction in Samantha?
Interest Level/Reader Age:
Young readers from middle school and up.
Challenges:
Protagonist struggling with whether or not to have sex with her boyfriend for the first time--may cause alarm in the minds of parents.
Answer to challenges: Meg Cabot is a renowned writer, noted particularly for her restraint in matters of sex. Her books are heralded and best sellers; these facts would be noted in addition to the library's policies regarding free speech and a diverse collection.
Why Include?:
Cabot is a very popular writer with teen readers, the movie on which Princess Diaries was based was highly successful. Her popularity demands inclusion.