The Manic Pixie Dream Boy Improvement Project

March 1, 2019

Gr 9 Up-Members of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl (and Boy) Trope fight for the right to exist-in fiction and in their own lives-in this entertaining send-up of literary conventions. Riley, one of the few Manic Pixie Dream Boys residing in TropeTown (a place filled with familiar literary devices, situations, and characters), has been sent to behavioral therapy for deviating from the expected quirky fun he is supposed to bring to a novel. There he meets Zelda and other whimsical Manic Pixie Dream Girls who have been sent to therapy to learn to embrace their Trope. As a group, they would like to be taken seriously, but since the TropeTown Council has decided their type is problematic, they may be retired. With only a few days to avert their demise, they work hard to show the Council how charming, creative, and vibrant they are. Their plan is complicated by other potential futures, like planting in a novel (staying for good), seeing where the Termination Train may really lead, or accepting the small bit of freedom that being a Trope in TropeTown allows them. Appelhans's metafictional story asks if Tropes can live authentic lives, if they are doomed to live out other people's stories, or if they can steer their own path. Affable Riley's quest to be seen beyond labels and stereotypes and his desire for agency are feelings to which many Readers in Reader World will relate. VERDICT Recommend this well-crafted book to voracious readers of YA who will appreciate the satire.-Amanda MacGregor, Parkview Elementary School, Rosemount, MN

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2019
A Manic Pixie Dream Boy learns he's more than just a label.Riley is TropeTown's second-ever Manic Pixie Dream Boy--a subset of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope. After twice deviating from his script on a job, the Council assigns Riley to mandatory group therapy with a motley crew of Manic Pixie Dream Girls. There, he falls for Zelda, of the Geek Chic subtype, and finds an unanticipated group of friends. However, something's not quite right in TropeTown, and Riley has to decide if he is willing to risk termination to learn the truth about TropeTown and protect the Manic Pixies. Underdeveloped worldbuilding and a general lack of subtlety leaves elements of characterization and plot unsatisfying. There is plenty of discussion about the concept of Manic Pixies, but any attempted critique is undermined by the continued centering of Riley, a male character who finds himself through the help of secondary women characters. Barely-veiled digs at John Green's many Manic Pixies abound; a painfully self-conscious discussion arises between white characters exploring the similarities and differences between Manic Pixies and racist tropes like the Magical Negro as well as the benefits and detriments of tropes as representation. A few of the women characters have been in same-sex relationships, and characters default to white.Ultimately, just as frustrating, underdeveloped, and problematic as the trope this novel tries to interrogate. (Speculative fiction/satire. 13-17)

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January 1, 2019
Grades 7-12 Fictional 17-year-old Riley is a trope, a Manic Pixie Dream Boy to be precise, and the only one in Tropetown, since his best friend Finn disappeared. Riley's job is to appear as a character in various authors' books, though now he's telling readers his own story as he dreams of going off script to have adventures he creates himself, ideally shared with a beautiful Manic Pixie Dream Girl named Zelda. But there's a fly in the ointment: he's forbidden to date her because the two teens have been remanded to group therapy. Things get complicated when Riley is summoned to appear in a new novel-in-progress and meets Ava, the Central Developed character. Fascination follows, but what about Zelda? And what's this? The town council has announced it is considering retiring the entire Manic Pixie Dream trope. Is it termination time? Appelhans' novel is a genial read, though its characters are mostly one dimensional, and its pace is slow. It is, however, redeemed by the cleverness of a premise that would make Pirandello proud.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)