American Girls

Starred review from March 28, 2016
Tired of being the “leftover” of her parents’ divorce and eager to disappear after a prank goes too far, 15-year-old Anna uses her stepmother’s credit card to buy a ticket to Los Angeles, where her sister Delia, a struggling actress, lives. Surrounded by Hollywood’s beautiful and morally corrupt, Anna navigates interactions with Delia’s ex-boyfriend, Roger, who is shooting a movie about L.A. murders, and her sister’s current love interest, a writer on a kids’ show, as well as her own blossoming romance with a teen actor. Forced to pay back the money she stole for her flight, Anna takes a job researching the Manson girls for Roger. Her immersion into the Manson murders leads to paranoia when it appears that Delia is being stalked. Debut author Umminger’s humor is biting (“My family was clearly the place where optimism went to die”), yet it reveals richly complicated relationships among mothers, daughters, and sisters. Umminger crafts a Los Angeles both glittering and soulless, leading to Anna’s realization that she may have more in common with the Manson girls than she thought, but it’s the choices she makes that set her apart
. Ages 13–up. Agent: Neeti Madan, Sterling Lord Literistic.

Starred review from April 15, 2016
A bright, prickly teenager struggles to find her place while spending a summer exploring the contradictions of Hollywood, replete with beautiful actors, has-been pop stars, and the specter of the Manson girls.Umminger's debut novel follows 15-year-old Anna, a smart, cynical white girl who escapes a complicated home situation by "borrowing" her stepmother's credit card to run away to Los Angeles. There, she reunites with her actress sister for the summer and is recruited by her sister's dubious director (and ex-boyfriend) to research the Manson girls for his film project. The more time Anna spends tagging along on TV and film sets, the more she begins to notice the surprising ways in which the subtle yet pervasive emotional violence in her own life and the lives of those around her mirror the personal histories of the Manson girls, who were, after all, once "regular" girls. Setting her tale against the glittery, gritty backdrop of modern-day Los Angeles, the author deftly weaves together multiple story strands to create a razor-sharp commentary on our culture, observed with keen wit from the perspective of one honest and complex American girl.An insightful, original take on the coming-of-age story, this novel plumbs the depths of American culture to arrive at a poignant emotional truth. (author's note) (Fiction. 14 & up)

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May 1, 2016

Gr 8 Up-A meandering look at a murderous time in America's history and how the behavior of the young girls who carried out those atrocious crimes compares to the emotional viciousness of teenage girls of today. Umminger's novel offers a glimpse into the life of Anna as she in turn explores the lives of serial killers, the infamous Manson Girls. Anna is 14 and feels like a castaway in her own life; her mom has started a new life with a new family she doesn't fit in with, her dad has a new girlfriend as well, and her best friend may not be the greatest influence. Running away to stay with her glamorous sister in California seems like her best escape route, but life in L.A. brings problems and dangers of its own. To earn her plane fare back, Anna agrees to do film research on Charles Manson's female followers, who committed a series of murders in 1969, and learns that the line between good and evil is often less defined than it may at first seem. This is an introspective account of how deeply the invisible scars of familial emotional abuse can run and how easily they can wreak havoc on the lives of everyone close by.

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 15, 2016
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Anna, 15, is tired of her life. She feels like a relic from her parents' first marriage, and now that her mother and new stepmother have had a baby together, Anna feels even more out of place. So she borrows her stepmother's credit card and books herself a flight to L.A., where her half sister Delia lives. Despite the ensuing blow-up, Anna is granted a summer furlough during which she watches Delia, a struggling actress, at work and becomes involved in a project involving Charles Manson and the women who murdered for him. Through her research and observations on the dark side of celebrity and the struggles Delia faces, both as an actress and as a woman in Hollywood, Anna slowly comes to terms with her family and herself. In some ways, this debut is a by-the-book bildungsroman, but Anna's wry, biting voice elevates it to something more. The Manson girls are certainly an evocative lens, but their presence is effectively understated; this is not a sensationalized look at a family of serial killers, but a mirror held up to a certain type of violence that effects women in America every day. Bittersweet and true, Anna's journey to self-discovery is one that should be widely read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)