Side Effects

September 15, 2014
The novelization of a digital series on the AwesomenessTV YouTube channel features musical numbers translated into prose. A family of five kids ranging in age from 13 to 23 struggles to stay on an even keel after the death of their mother and the disappearance of their father. The story is told in multiple voices, beginning with ninth-grader Whitney's, who copes with the stresses of parental loss and bullying from the She-Bitches at school by taking pills from a bottle that warns, "MAY CAUSE MUSICAL HALLUCINATIONS." When she takes a pill, a musical number begins, which may work onscreen but in print results in a very confusing blend of reality and fantasy, as well as sentences like, " 'Scream, shout, and curse!' she shouts lyrically." Other chapters are written by older sister Lexi (whom her brother calls "slutty") and their three brothers, along with quasi-brother Zak. Once the group embarks on a trip to find their dad, a little bit of a plot develops, and there are a few good interchanges among siblings, but overall, it is a bubbly, incoherent mess sprinkled with brand-name references ("Jason...walks by at that moment with a large bag of Cool Ranch Doritos"). Though it has no redeeming literary value, it may still be popular with fans of the Side Effects series, the first 40-minute "season" of which has close to 3 million views. (Fiction. 12-16)

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October 1, 2014

Gr 9 Up-Set in present-day San Bernardino County, California, and based on Allison Shroeder's YouTube series, the novel opens with the She-Bitches (the local mean girls) prank calling Whitney Connolly, a 15-year-old high school student whose widowed father disappeared six months ago. Keith, Whitney's oldest brother, came home from college to take care of his siblings, but it has not been going well. Whitney is on medication to cope with her family's recent upheaval, and the pills that she's taking cause musical hallucinations. Her older siblings, twins Jason and Lexi, are acting out, and no one has been paying attention to Sam, the youngest. Rumors abound as to why their dad left, and most believe it's because their family's finances suffered with all of their mom's chemo treatments. Whitney decides to find their dad on her own, but before long the whole family is headed out on a road trip to find their father. In the process, they learn to be a family again and to support one another. Each chapter is told by a different member of the Connolly clan, so readers get each individual's perspective and thoughts. The hallucinations caused by Whitney's depression medication are not integrated well into the narrative, though, and come off as a little disturbing. The use of current pop-culture name-dropping will quickly date this work, and the over-the-top drama will deter many teens.-Jesten Ray, Seattle Public Library, WA

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