Famous Last Words

May 20, 2013
Aspiring reporter Sam D’Angelo, 16, is interning at her local New Jersey paper for the summer, stuck writing obituaries with her occasionally annoying, college-age fellow intern AJ. When she’s not taking phone calls about dead people, Sam writes humorous imaginary obits (including one for herself); spends time with her grandmother; lusts after the “incredibly hot” features intern, Tony Roma; and covertly investigates the shady mayor with AJ. Doktorski (How My Summer Went Up in Flames) offers another strong, funny, and quirky protagonist, along with a well-developed supporting cast. Work, family life, friendships, and potential romance are skillfully woven together, though Sam’s journalistic aspirations take center stage as she tries to climb from lowly coffee gopher and obituary writer to investigative reporter. It’s easy to fall for Sam’s self-deprecating wit, go-getter enthusiasm, occasional stumbles, and fascination with boys; her dedication to the imperiled newspaper and her eccentric colleagues will endear her to readers, too. A satisfying office romance set against the backdrop of tight deadlines and a changing media landscape. Ages 12–up. Agent: Kerry Evans, Levine Greenberg Literary Agency.

June 1, 2013
An aspiring journalist finds romance and adventure in the newsroom. Sixteen-year-old Sam D'Angelo has a dull summer internship writing the obituary column for the Herald Tribune, the local newspaper where she lives in northern New Jersey. In spite of the efforts of her friend, party-girl Shelby, to get Sam to take a break from her strictly work-focused routine, Sam remains chained to her desk, a dedicated newspaper writer but a miserable failure in the social sphere. As she puts it, "my own metamorphosis from ugly duckling to swan stalled out in the Cornish-game-hen stage." Sam turns out to have a significant talent for writing, and she gets a break when a Holocaust survivor chooses her to record his story, which then makes the front page. An even bigger break comes when she decides to do a bit of sleuthing to help a fellow reporter trying to expose the local mayor, whom he suspects of corruption. Together with her boyfriend, fellow intern AJ, Sam is on the case. Something of a love note to print journalism, the story is nevertheless snappy and contemporary, furthered by Sam's wry, self-deprecating narration and convincingly colloquial dialogue. Cleverly titled, realistically written, and on the whole engaging and sympathetic, this story rings true. (Fiction. 13-17)

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July 1, 2013

Gr 8 Up-Sam D'Angelo spends the summer before her senior year as an intern for a local New Jersey newspaper, and she learns a lot, both on and off the job. Working at the obituary desk provides her with a new lens through which to view her town, her boy-crazy best friend, and the dying newspaper industry. Sam is joined at the desk by AJ, a reliable and witty college student/drummer in a local band. Completing a romantic triangle is Tony, the features desk intern who, in Sam's opinion, is "incredibly hot in a universal, People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive kind of way." Sam plays an integral role in solving an abuse-of-power incident in the mayor's office and learns the secret of writing obits (it's about the life, not the death). She also has an opportunity to talk with a survivor of a Nazi prison camp in a scene that conveys the teen's professional growth. The other characters in this plot-driven novel are not as well developed. Harry, the paper's editor, is a caricature of the old-time newspaperman, especially when he utters lines like "Everybody has a story, D'Angelo." Fast-paced, light entertainment.-Shelley Sommer, Inly School, Scituate, MA

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2013
Grades 9-12 Sam's summer vacation is packed: she's interning at a New Jersey newspaper, where she works the obituary beat with a cute, funnyif sometimes moodydrummer named AJ. Between researching the biographies of fire victims and trailing the mysteries of a corrupt local mayor, she barely has time to reluctantly catch up with her often absent, party-hearty, boy-magnet best friend, Shelby. As she plots and prepares for her future, Sam learns to stick up for herself, live a life worthy of a fine obit, and read between the lines when it comes to her relationships. Doktorski (How My Summer Went Up in Flames, 2013) returns to familiar summer coming-of-age territory with this sophomore novel, proving her comfort with the frame by providing a smart, compact, and pleasurable read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)