"Is It Easy Being Green?"

December 1, 2014
Grades 10-1 Formulaic though the college-application essay may be, answers require ever-more inventive answers. With schools getting more and more creative with their prompts (e.g., University of Virginia's Make a bold prediction about something in the year 2020 or the somewhat bewildering So where is Waldo, really? from the University of Chicago), high-school seniors are required to get more and more creative in their responses. Nevin's guide to writing the college-application essay doesn't offer template answers, but it does provide struggling and overwhelmed students with tips for breaking down difficult essay questions and showcasing their own strengths. A section on technicality and another on organizational charts leave write-in spaces for readers, which might provide a few circulation challenges, but this will have wide appeal for the target audience. Nevin includes a number of sample essays, and though some are clearly superior to others, the variety will almost certainly soothe nervous college hopefuls.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)