Ordinary Girls

April 1, 2019
Self-contained, responsible Plum, long eclipsed by her brilliant, exhausting older sister, Ginny, breaks free when domestic disasters reshape the family landscape. The sisters' beloved Victorian home needs costly maintenance. That's not happening on their artist mother's teaching income and book royalties, even with a paying tenant. Their deceased father's life-insurance payout covers tuition at the girls' Philadelphia private school. Financial stress aside, the all-white, all-female trio, plus pets, is close-knit, though Ginny, a senior whose Ivy League hopes rest on winning a hefty scholarship, feels overwhelmed. Plum, 15--shy at school, assertive at home--soothes her, shouldering household tasks Ginny's too agitated or busy for and their distracted mother overlooks. As they're coping with a financial blow that coincides with a plumbing emergency, Ginny ditches her family for Thanksgiving. Feeling abandoned, Plum keeps her hesitant, fledging friendship with outgoing, popular Tate Kurokawa (implied biracial white Jewish/Japanese), her social opposite, secret. When she's hired to tutor Tate, their awkward, confusing affinity grows. The sisters' relationship--what pulls them apart, what draws them together when their connection is strained--is the story's beating heart. While there's romance, this is no pink-coded, Austen retread but a well-told, universally human--regardless of gender--tale about teens discovering who they are, where they want to go, and how to get there. This wise, funny, thoroughly contemporary coming-of-age tale earns bonus points for acing the Bechdel test. (Fiction. 13-18)

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Starred review from May 6, 2019
In this contemporary reimagining of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, 15-
year-old Plum Blatchley is the quiet, introspective foil to her dramatic, excitable sister, 18-year-old Ginny. Their illustrator mother’s small but steady royalty payments unexpectedly lost, Plum worries that they’ll be unable to keep their beloved old home, and Ginny’s anxiety about paying for college reaches a fever pitch. As the family scrambles to make ends meet, Plum develops a secret relationship with “Loud Sophomore Boy” Tate and begins to question her identity independent of her family and her late father’s authorial legacy. Though the setting and dialogue are firmly modern, the Blatchleys continually reference literature (and related film adaptations) by the likes of Austen and the Brontës, informing the family’s interactions with one another and their surroundings. A realistic depiction of siblinghood, marked by the girls’ mutual frustration with and protectiveness of one another, proves deeply dynamic as each falters and grows. Most of all, Thornburgh’s (Who’s That Girl) exploration of the power of social comedies and books by and about young women—works often deemed insignificant—shines. A funny, beguiling story of sisterhood, burgeoning self-awareness, and first love. Ages 13–up. Agent: Uwe Stender, TriadaUS Literary.

May 1, 2019

Gr 8 Up-Patience Mortimer Blatchley-better known as Plum-hates her older sister Ginny almost as much as she loves her. Caught up in college admissions panic, Ginny is increasingly prone to dramatic meltdowns. Plum considers herself the practical one-the one who, when confronted with her family's impending financial ruin and the potential loss of their sprawling, dilapidated home, turns to Victorian literature for inspiration. Discarding possibilities such as being shipped off to distant relatives or marrying up, she muses, "If it were not the 21st century, and I were not only 15, I would become a governess." A string of awkward coincidences follows, and Plum finds herself accidentally hired as an English tutor for Tate Kurokawa, a popular, athletic boy who is as different from Plum as she feels it is possible for a person to be. As Plum and Tate grow closer, Plum's mother organizes chaotic fundraising events in their home and Ginny grows increasingly frantic about her financial aid prospects. Plum discounts Ginny's anxieties as mere drama until a frightening incident reminds her how central sisterhood, with all of its challenges, is to her identity. Thornburgh's second novel offers a charming riff on Sense and Sensibility, with fully realized characters and a setting-the Blatchley house-so well loved that it feels like a character in its own right. Readers will happily lose themselves in the warmly realistic family dynamics, the sisters' laugh-out-loud literary banter, and the sweet, low-key romance. This book's greatest strength, however, is its remarkably nuanced look at the intimate, and at times claustrophobic, bonds of sisterhood. VERDICT A smart, character-driven contemporary novel with a timeless feel. Highly recommended for all collections.-Elizabeth Giles, Lubuto Library Partners, Zambia

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 15, 2019
Grades 7-10 *Starred Review* Plum and her older sister, Ginny, live with their mother in the sort of literary household where arguments arise concerning the best film adaptation of a Jane Austen novel. Their beloved, ramshackle Victorian home needs repair, but private-school tuition is expensive, and their family's precarious financial situation looks increasingly bleak. Smart and hard-working but overwrought, Ginny is enduring the agonies of senior year (Will her chosen university accept her? Will financial aid cover the cost?). Meanwhile, 15-year-old Plum, who has no friends beyond her sister, tries to earn money by tutoring Tate, a sports-minded classmate who hangs out with the "Loud Sophomore Boys" group. And, as it turns out, he's a great kisser. While Plum and Ginny emerge as sharply defined, complex individuals, the secondary characters are often intriguing as well. Plum's first-person narrative guides readers through a year when her sister seems to drift away, leaving Plum to challenge herself and process new experiences on her own. A crisis leaves them both shaken but, in the end, closer than ever. The author of Who's That Girl (2017), Thornburgh offers a story that's as witty, intelligent, and perceptive as its narrator. A rewarding novel that revolves around change, reflection, and, yes, sisterhood.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)