Plot Summary: Ruby Oliver has got problems. She lives on a house boat that's TWO buses away from all of her friends and her school. On top of that she's started having panic attacks, and her parents are making her see a shrink. The makes her write a list of all the guys she's ever been involved with, even if it just means she liked them once, years ago. On top of all of that, her supposed best friend is going out with her ex-boyfriend, and it's unclear when that started and all of her other friends are on THEIR side. Then, to make matters even worse, her "boyfriend list" ends up distributed all around school and everyone thinks she's an awful slut. No wonder she's having panic attacks. You would too if your life was like Ruby's.
Critical Evaluation: A charming addition to the teenage chick lit genre. While the heavy reliance on footnotes to move the story along makes the novel a little slow, the actual meat of the story is lovely. Ruby is a believable protaganist that has undeniably had a few bad breaks. Readers will root for her to come out on top after reading about the knocks she's taken and the supporting characters are fun. All in all, this novel doesn't strive for the pullitzer prize, but it achieves it's aims of a readable tale with a well written plot and enough drama to keep readers interested.
Reader's Annotation: Well, your list of boyfriends would be longer than mine I bet. I mean 15's not so many, right?
About the Author: Born in New York, NY in an undisclosed year, E. Lockhart grew up in Cambridge, MA and Seattle, WA. She spent her undergraduate years at Vassar and received her doctorate from Columbia University.
She has written 8 young adult novels and is very private about her family and personal life. She will reveal that she likes yoga and baking and that she has taught creative writing and composition at Columbia, Barnard and NYU.
Information retreived from http://www.emilylockhart.com/
Genre: Chick Lit
Curriculum Ties: N/A
Booktalking Ideas: Friends and double standards. Therapy and teens.
Reading Level: 11+
Interest Age: 14+
Challenge Issues: N/A
Why is This Included: A charming take on traditional chick lit
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