My Beautiful Hippie

Starred review from March 1, 2013
A sheltered 15-year-old growing up in San Francisco becomes part of the 1967 Summer of Love when she falls for a free-spirited hippie who changes her life. An aspiring pianist from a conservative family, Joanne's attracted to the "hippies, freaks, heads, beautiful people, [and] flower children" who crowd the Haight District. Her mother's the perfect hostess, her father's wary of hippies, her older sister's quitting Berkeley to support her graduate-student husband, and her mindless brother can't wait to join the Marines and "blast away Commie gooks" in Vietnam. On the fringe of the in crowd, Joanne and her best friend Rena wonder what it's like to smoke pot and live in New York City. When she meets Martin, a gorgeous hippie whose vagabond life contrasts sharply with her own, Joanne keeps their casual, friendly relationship secret while he gently guides her through the counterculture of drugs, rock and war protests. As society shifts seismically, Joanne must choose between Martin's fluid lifestyle and holding onto her family and her dreams. With realism, humor and honesty, Joanne describes a brave new world of miniskirts and bell bottoms, rock music and psychedelic drugs, feminism and the Pill, anti-war demonstrations and profound political upheaval. First-rate coming-of-age story with spot-on late-1960s period detail. (Fiction. 15 & up)

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May 1, 2013

Gr 9 Up-Joanne, 15, lives with her family in the Haight District of San Francisco during the 1967 Summer of Love. When she meets free-spirited Martin, she is introduced to a lifestyle that contradicts the traditional values of her middle-class family. Joanne is a quiet, socially withdrawn piano player with one close friend, Rena. However, the girls begin to grow apart as Rena pursues her interest in the San Francisco theater scene and Joanne pursues her interest in Martin and his brother's famous local band. Martin's spontaneous nature leaves her both excited and put off by their lack of consistent plans and commitment. Joanne's siblings are also struggling with the changing times. Her sister has just sacrificed her college education to marry an older, chauvinist professor, and her brother is actively avoiding school so he can be drafted to fight in Vietnam. The story climaxes when the three siblings all reach a crossroads. Readers may find some of the cultural references and plot devices to be heavy-handed and contrived in an effort to cover multiple aspects of the era. However, the ending is believable and satisfying. Teens will relate to Joanne's changing relationships and family dynamics, and her struggle to define herself outside of her family.-Lynn Rashid, Marriotts Ridge High School, Marriottsville, MD

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2013
Grades 8-11 My life was that of a regular middle-class teenage girl, who just happened to live in Haight-Ashbury during the Summer of Love. Soon-to-be junior Joanne loves the new hippie culture taking over her San Francisco neighborhood, much to her parents' horror. When she meets far-out Martin, with wavy, honey-brown shoulder-length hair, she starts wearing tie-dye and sneaking out to see him. Martin introduces her to the counterculture of peace, love, and rock 'n' roll; it's a world vastly different from her homelife, with a brother who is eager to go to Nam and an 18-year-old sister recently, and unhappily, married. The Summer of Love gives way to that historically pivotal year, 1968, and the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy. Soon Joanne must decide: should she follow free-spirited Martin or assume her duties as a good middle-class girl? Teens who are into the 1960s, or just want to learn more about the tumultuous time period, will find abundant period details in Lynch's groovy novel: love beads, acid trips, antiwar protests, psychedelic dances, and musiclots of music.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)