Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters

Gr 8–10—Just before entering the ninth grade in New York City, Kelsey Finkelstein, 14, tells her friends Em, Cass, and JoJo that she wants to make their freshman year the best one yet. However, on her road to "defying expectations," she encounters some setbacks. Part of her plan is to attract the eye of a cute classmate Jordan, but, to Kelsey's dismay, Cass hooks up with him instead. She earns a spot on the soccer team, yet the surly captain assigns her the hazardous role of goalie. Then her photo is published in the school newspaper with a full shot of her broken front tooth. When she tries out for the school's production of Fiddler on the Roof, true to form, she lands the role of a fat male butcher with a pasted-on beard. As the humorous mishaps mount in this laugh-out-loud coming-of-age novel, Kelsey gains insight and perspective through introspection and dialogue with friends. The values of good friendships are further evidenced in the honesty Kelsey and Cass show when they reconcile and how the group of friends supports JoJo when she admits her attraction to another girl. Alcohol and marijuana appear in the novel, but are not glamorized, as the users either get nauseated or arrested. In a sweet reversal, Kelsey finds that one of her many disasters has introduced her to a new guy who is, indeed, worth the wait.——Susan W. Hunter, Riverside Middle School, Springfield, VT