Yellow Mini

January 1, 2012

Gr 9 Up-Mark's father died in an accident, and, instead of saving the insurance money for college, the teen squanders it (in his mother's eyes) to buy the titular yellow car. He speeds all over town with his hanger-on of a girlfriend, Stacey, at his side. A new convert to the ranks of cool kids, she has forsaken her two former best friends, Annabelle and Mary. They are hardly sitting at home twiddling their thumbs, however. Annabelle discovers the school's Social Action Group and finds first love in someone she'd never considered before. Mary inches out of the shadows to give a public performance on her beloved piano. Told in verse from multiple perspectives, the story is straightforward and fast-paced, and may appeal to readers who can identify with one or more of the characters. It takes more than 20 pages, however, until a reference to the Iraq War erases the suspicion that this is a work of historical fiction due to some dated remarks by the characters. Annabelle, for example, describes how the cool kids "smoke up" and don't care about "good marks," not descriptors of choice for today's teens. Such phrases, coupled with somewhat flat characters and a smattering of trite sayings, sometimes add to the feeling that someone's mom, not teens, are speaking. This is a decent read for fans of novels in verse in a contemporary high school setting, but most readers will find Ellen Hopkins's Perfect (S & S, 2011) or Samantha Schutz's You Are Not Here (Scholastic, 2010) more compelling.-Jill Heritage Maza, Montclair Kimberley Academy, Montclair, NJ

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