Beyond Clueless

June 15, 2015
Mistaken identity, misbehavior, and musical theater. Now that she's starting Catholic school, how will 14-year-old Marty spend time with BFF Jimmy, who's staying in public school and has a new boyfriend distracting him? Marty likes Jimmy's boyfriend's friends from the Gay-Straight Alliance but misses Jimmy's undiluted attention. At least Marty's school is doing Into the Woods-musicals are Marty's lifeblood. Playing Little Red Riding Hood, she falls for the wily older boy playing the Wolf; Into the Woods fans will gobble up the detailed connections between show and life. As the kids pal around and drink beer, Marty's oblivious social assumptions exist only to set up a plot tangle of identities, jealousies, and missteps. Weak characterization strains for voice, with Marty's campy first-person narration ("HELL no. I'm not going to be the only girl-skank in these pictures!") sounding the same as her gay friends' ("Sweetheart, you have no idea what a trove of secrets I keep"; "You are soooo changing out of that...arrangement of fabric"). Ongoing snark about unshaven female legs, an it's-so-weird attitude about a Chinese name before Marty learns its pronunciation, and variations on a slur ("mah bitches," "bee-yatch," and the classic "bitch") aim for humor and flavor but come off, well, bitchy. In a subgenre about queer themes and musicals that's big enough to offer choice, other options are funnier and more genuine than this. (Fiction. 13-15)

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July 1, 2015

Gr 8 Up-When Martha (Marty) and Jimmy-BFFs since fifth grade-head to different high schools, their lives begin to change. Jimmy, acknowledging that he's gay, falls for Derek, and Marty fears that she'll be replaced. Obsessed by Broadway musicals, she auditions for Into the Woods at her all-girls' school, encouraging Jimmy and his new friends to do likewise. She and Derek are cast, her cellist friend Xiang opts to play in the orchestra, and Jimmy and his friend Oliver agree to be assistant directors. Totally smitten with gorgeous Felix Peroni, (typecast as The Wolf), Marty agrees to a backstage secret romance, unaware that he is two-timing her. Finally jolted back to reality, she discovers that someone else has cared about her all along. The well-paced story with its typical adolescent behavior-sexting, swearing, sneaking out, underage drinking, making out-will ring true with teens, and its plot twists and turns will maintain high interest. The theatrical setting will appeal to stage-struck young adults, and the ultimately positive parent/kid relationships will resonate with readers. While less overt than David Leviathan's Hold Me Closer (Dutton, 2015), Alsenas's title offers practical, kid-appropriate advice on the value of friendship and the importance of self-knowledge. VERDICT A pleasing, humorous tale of relationship angst.-Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, formerly at LaSalle Academy, Providence, RI

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