Flannery

March 21, 2016
Nothing comes easily for Flannery. Her single mother is trying to raise the 16-year-old and her thoughtful-yet-infuriating younger brother, Felix, without enough money to buy school supplies or keep the electricity on. At school, Flannery is mooning over her childhood pal, Tyrone, and chasing down her best friend, Amber, who has ditched her for a controlling boyfriend. Flannery’s story unfurls almost as a stream of consciousness narrative, with passages frequently interrupted by and interspersed with frenetic memories. In her first book for teens, Moore (author of February, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2010) forsakes quotation marks to denote dialogue, creating the sense that Flannery is remembering and retelling her story at a distance. This does not lessen the story’s impact as Moore clearly articulates the “profoundly unfair” struggle of the invisible poor, the impossible weight of a child trying to keep a family together, and the brutal torments of high school, including one especially horrific bullying scene involving a used condom. But Flannery remains precocious and independent, a pragmatic heroine with a fierce attitude, quiet patience, and indomitable survival instinct. Ages 13–up.

April 1, 2016
Grades 8-11 Moore, whose adult novel February (2010) was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, makes her first foray into YA fiction, here, with a character-driven portrait of a contemporary teen. Flannery struggles with her family's financial situation. Her conceptual-artist mother can't make ends meet, forcing the family onto welfare and making even purchasing new textbooks a challenge. She is also on the outs with her longtime best friend Amber, who has ditched her for her new boyfriend. The one bright spot in Flannery's life comes from Tyrone, her childhood love turned school bad boythey are paired together for a class entrepreneurial project in which they have chosen to make, of all things, love potions. Could their love potion actually work? Moore is at her best when portraying the class conflict Flannery faces, particularly with regard to the more affluent Amber. She paints a deeply sympathetic portrait of Miranda, Flannery's mother, one of the story's major characters. Though the pacing can be a bit plodding at times, Moore's vivid writing and keen understanding of interpersonal dynamics bring this to life.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)