Pants on Fire

May 7, 2007
T
he summer before senior year, life looks good for Katie Ellison, girlfriend of football player Seth Turner (who has “the most sought-after tongue in all of Eastport”). She's waitressing at the Gull 'n Gulp and making out on the sly with Eric Flutely, star of the school musical. With the cash she's sure to earn by placing in the Quahog Princess pageant—one of the four contestants is an anarchist whose platform involves allowing Eastport's famed quahogs (clams) “to live free, without fear of being dug up and eaten”—she can pay off the balance on the professional camera she wants. Then Tommy Sullivan returns to town. Katie and Tommy were close friends until he became a pariah after penning an exposé about SAT cheating by football players, a scandal that cost Seth's brother a scholarship. Katie betrayed Tommy rather than be ostracized by association, but Tommy is no longer the skinny brainiac who left Eastport: he's tan, buff and ultra-confident. Boy-crazy Katie, who admits to a kissing addiction, is more than smitten: she may be in love with her boyfriend's archenemy. The lies Katie tells to keep her romantic indiscretions under wraps build until she realizes the truth is her only recourse. It may be a bit tough to conjure sympathy for a pageant contestant with a straight-A average and three hot guys in her orbit—but tweens and teens will likely find this amusing fare as easy to swallow as iced tea on a hot afternoon. Ages 12-up.

September 1, 2007
Gr 9 Up -It's the summer before her senior year in high school, and Katie Ellison has discovered the thrills of making out behind the back of her sweet but bland football player boyfriend in this novel by Meg Cabot (HarperTeen, 2007). She regrets the web of lies that her various shenanigans have required, but just can't seem to stop herself. Her talent for photography, dependability on the job, environmental consciousness, and reputation as a star student rescue her from a bad-girl image for everyone except herself. Katie knows that she had a part in ruining a good friend back in the eighth grade in order to become part of the in-crowd. And now that boy, Tommy Sullivan, is back in town and she's even making out with him. How much more complicated could one girl's life be? Narrator Krista Sutton brings Katie to life with a reading that exudes hormones. Listeners will be aware of the "good" Katie trying to re-make the "bad" girl as Sutton's reading moves the situation to a pivotal tell-all moment. She masterfully lets listeners hear Katie's eye-rolling and finger-crossing. Cabot fans will like this light-hearted story full of summer fun, dreams come true, and a happy ending, even though the plot is predictable.Jane P. Fenn, Corning-Painted Post West High School, NY

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