Party

March 22, 2010
Leveen's debut follows one wild evening in Santa Barbara through the eyes of 11 teenagers on their way to a party. Attention-seeker Morrigan has just dumped Josh for not sleeping with her and is determined to find someone else; Josh's friends want to get his mind off the breakup. Morrigan's best friend, Ashley, plans to supervise her, but is distracted by the distant behavior of an old friend, Beckett, who desperately wants someone to notice her. Max is secretly in love with Beckett, and Azize is a Turkish immigrant taking the opportunity to meet new people. The story has the feel of a raucous SoCal soap opera, with abundant drinking, fighting, and plot twists (also, plenty of cliffhangers). Readers spend only one chapter with each character, which is effective in building suspense and getting to know the characters (and view events) from different angles, yet feels emotionally reductive—it's not quite enough time inside their heads. While the dialogue is realistic and voices and personalities well differentiated, despite all the drama the story feels too tidy. Ages 14–up.

April 1, 2010
Gr 9 Up-This novel, told from multiple perspectives, is about an end-of-the-school-year party at a "typical" middle-class high school. The 11 narrators include an outcast, a skater, an immigrant's son, a jock, and a lady's man, among others. All of these teens have their own expectations for the gathering, and their reasons for going range from simply getting drunk to expressing their love to making new friends. The first character presented, Beckett, is immediately intriguing, and the format allows readers to get to know her (and all the other characters) through the eyes of more than one person, lending depth to the story. But sometimes this device means that information about a single character is simply repeated rather than enhanced by a new viewpoint. For this reason, readers may be left wanting more from one point of view when the story has already moved on to another (not necessarily a bad thing). The party is raucous and wild, culminating in a drunken flirtation (and subsequent rejection), a racially motivated fistfight, and the arrival of some friendly policemen to break it all up. This is a quick and entertaining read. Some strong language and sexual content make it most appropriate for older readers."Nora G. Murphy, Los Angeles Academy Middle School"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2010
Grades 9-12 As everyone from school descends on a Santa Barbara party, 11 teenage partygoers narrate their experience of the nights drunken sexual encounters, a fight fueled by racial epithets, several reconciliations, and the sweet start of a new relationship. First-time author Leveen uses the varied points of view to touch on myriad issues, from the loss of a parent to sex, religion, and the war in Iraq. Despite the often-heavy subject matter, the young narrators compelling and largely believable voices lighten the tone of the novel. Their yearning to connect with each other shines through their pained actions, awkward slang, and frequent bursts of profanity. As the various threads of the story begin to converge, the author wraps everything up neatly for an upbeat ending. Although the plot feels somewhat contrived, it is ultimately satisfying to see the charactersfrom jock to outsiderbegin to overcome their pain and affirm the value of deeply held relationships.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)