Tell Me Three Things

Starred review from January 18, 2016
Jessie’s mother has been dead for two years, and because her father has recently married a woman he met online and moved the family to Los Angeles, Jessie is starting her junior year at a fancy private school where she knows no one. The only good news is that a classmate and self-described “spirit guide” is anonymously emailing her tips about surviving Wood Valley High. “Somebody Nobody” is a great virtual conversationalist, and they turn out to have plenty in common, including grief. Jessie begins making friends and grappling with her complicated family dynamics, but she’s always wondering about her correspondent. Could he be brooding, handsome Ethan, her English-project partner? The cute guy at work whose girlfriend has it in for her? Stepbrother Theo? The dialogue—both spoken and typed—is consistently funny, and adult author Buxbaum (After You) makes everyone, even subsidiary characters, believable. She maintains suspense until the very end, and even if readers think they know who “Somebody Nobody” is, the desire to find out whether Jessie’s real-life and virtual crushes are one and the same will keep them turning the pages as quickly as possible. Ages 12–up. Agent: Jennifer Joel, ICM.

January 15, 2016
Jessie's unassimilated grief over her mother's death makes her dad's abrupt marriage to Rachel, a wealthy widow he met online, and their subsequent move from Chicago to her mansion in Los Angeles feel like betrayal. Rachel's son wants nothing to do with Jessie. Her first week at his private school is agonizing. When she gets an email from "Somebody Nobody," claiming to be a male student in the school and offering to act as her "virtual spirit guide," Jessie's suspicious, but she accepts--she needs help. SN's a smart, funny, supportive guide, advising her whom to befriend and whom to avoid while remaining stubbornly anonymous. Meanwhile, Jessie makes friends, is picked as study partner by the coolest guy in AP English, and finds a job in a bookstore, working with the owner's son, Liam. But questions abound. Why is Liam's girlfriend bullying her? What should she do about SN now that she's crushing on study-partner Ethan? Readers will have answers long before Jessie does. It's overfamiliar territory: a protagonist unaware she's gorgeous, oblivious to male admiration; a jealous, mean-girl antagonist; a secret admirer, easily identified. It's the authentic depiction of grief--how Jessie and other characters respond to loss, get stuck, struggle to break through--devoid of cliche, that will keep readers engaged. Though one of Jessie's friends has a Spanish surname, rich, beautiful, mostly white people are the order of the day. Within the standard-issue teen romance is a heartfelt, wryly perceptive account of coming to terms with irrevocable loss when life itself means inevitable change. (Fiction. 12-16)

COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

February 1, 2016

Gr 10 Up-A contemporary YA novel about grieving, growing up, and learning how to have confidence in yourself. Saying Jessie's new life is weird would be an understatement-after she loses her mother to cancer, her dad sells their house, moves them across the country to live with the woman he eloped with during a business trip, and enrolls her in an elite private school where everyone makes her feel even more like an outsider. Back home Jessie was comfortable: she had both her parents, a house she loved, and friends. Here she feels lost in a sea of designer clothing, expensive cars, and people who spend their summer vacations in faraway countries. When the teen gets an anonymous email from Somebody/Nobody offering to teach her to navigate this new school's territory, she registers how strange the situation may be but replies anyway. Who is this mysterious Somebody/Nobody (SN for short)? Will trusting SN lead to success-or make her even more of a target for bullies? Readers will find themselves growing with Jessie as she tries to deal with the passing of her mother and become comfortable in her own skin miles away from everything she thought of as home. Buxbaum's debut is hard to put down because of its smooth and captivating text. The addition of virtual conversations through email and chatting adds an exciting plot twist. Casual talk of drinking, drugs, and sex makes this novel more appealing to mature teens. VERDICT A definite purchase for collections where readers enjoy character-driven fiction.-DeHanza Kwong, Central Piedmont Community College, Charlotte, NC

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.