Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Sloppy Firsts

McCafferty, Megan. Sloppy Firsts. Performers: ISBN-10 0609807900, ISBN-139780609807903. Three Rivers Press. 2001.

Summary
Sloppy Firsts is the first book in the Jessica Darling series, and we meet Jessica as she has been left to face her New Jersey high school without her best friend, Hope. Without Hope, {plenty of irony intended} Jessica has no one to discuss all of her issues like her parents, her sister's wedding, her track meets, stupid school stuff, her other so-called-friends and their boy-craziness… and Marcus Flutie.

Critical Evaluation
Jessica Darling is a hilarious every-girl type of a character because most readers will have had been in her shoes at some point in high school and wear the same battle scars. Watching Jess navigate her way through high school without her best friend, Hope, and her new found feelings for the puzzling and smart Marcus Flutie who worked his way into her thoughts endears her to you. She is full of clever and funny insight, and tells her story with poignant honesty. Young adults will immediately both sympathize and commiserate with this one of a kind heroine!

Reader's Annotation
Jessica Darling travels the perilous days of high school missing her best friend, hanging with her other so-called friends and crushing on one of the last boys she ever thought about.

About the Author
Megan McCafferty worked for Cosmopolitan as the senior articles editor, and has written for Glamour, CosmoGIRL! and several others before setting down to write. McCafferty, like Jessica, lives in New Jersey
The Jessica Darling series includes five books, all chronicling Jessica through high school, college and grad school. McCafferty is also working on another book that's set in a dystopian world where only teen girls can reproduce. She has worked as editor and/or contributor on several fiction and non-fiction anthologies, such as Everything I Learned About Being a Girl, I learned from Judy Blume.

Genre
Girls & Women
Coming of Age

Curriculum Ties
Music: Seattle's Grunge

Booktalking Ideas
How would you tell your best friend that you're crushing on one of the guys that was with her brother when he overdosed…

Challenges
Sexual Content
Language
Parental Angst

Awards
ALA Top 10 Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 14+

Why I included this title...
In 2001, I picked this book up because of the lime green cover, and now I chose it because it's one of my favorite series.

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