Smart, Fun Fiction from Collins and Rideout

A few months ago, I was browsing through the YA section at the library and stumbled across a book called Girl v Boy by Yvonne Collins and Sandy Rideout. I hadn’t heard of them before, but I was intrigued by the cover and decided to give it a shot… and I loved it! This is a very good book about a contest between high schools to raise money for literacy programs. Doesn’t sound too exciting, I know, but when they begin dueling Boy v. Girl newspaper columns, a romance begins and there’s all kinds of mystery surrounding the identities of the anonymous newspaper columnists. It’s just really good.

Other books by this pair of authors include Black Sheep and the Vivien Leigh Reid series. Black Sheep was equally as good as Girl v. Boy, if not better! In it, the protagonist signs up for a reality TV show not thinking she’d be picked in a million years… but she does get picked, and all kinds of craziness ensues as she gets sent across the country to live with a different family for a while. Good stuff: funny, romantic, heartwarming. All the good girl stuff.

 

The Vivien Leigh Reid series involved a high school girl, Vivien, whose mother is a B-List Hollywood star.She visits her mom on set, falls in love with movie stars, and has a few acting roles of her own. She’s funny, though a little whiny, and her adventures are fun to read.There are three books that span about a year and a half – the first and third books are the best.

Note: As usual, because Barnes and Noble is my happy place, the books are linked to them so you can get more info… it’s not like I’m sponsored by B&N or anything, so buy from wherever you want, or use your local library! :)

Funniest Books I’ve Ever Read…

 A few years ago, I read Louise Rennison’s Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I didn’t realize it was part of a ten book series. Then, this summer, I happened to notice a film version of it available for rent on Netflix. I put it in my queue and prepared myself for yet another disappointing book-inpired movie. I was pleasantly surprised by how good the movie version was, and it inspired me to check into Rennison’s other books. Imagine my surprise when I found another nine books featuring the Angus protagonist, Georgia Nicolson! It was pretty exciting. (I know I’m a book nerd, ok?)

I put all of the books on hold at my local library and waited until I had them all to start reading. Then, when they were all finally in, I tore through all nine books following Angus… in a matter of ONE WEEK. Several times, as I was reading in the evenings while my husband was watching TV, I would seriously laugh out loud at the sheer hilarity of the books. I’m seriously considering buying all of the books so I can reread them whenever I need to have a good laugh.

A note about content – some of the titles sound a bit risque sexually… but the content is not. Though all of Georgia’s friends are preoccupied with boys and the constantly rate themselves on a “Snogging Scale” (snogging is British for kissing), the girls never do anything beyond kissing with their boyfriends, and there’s very little inappropriate language in the books. Out of all the young adult series I’ve read, this one is pretty clean.

Basically, in the series, (don’t worry – no spoilers – this is VERY general) Georgia Nicolson and her group of friends navigate their way through a year or so of school at Stalag 14, an all-girls high school. The group calls themselves the Ace Gang, and they are absolutely hilarious together – constantly trying to pull little pranks, getting in trouble, and torturing the school’s staff. Georgia’s family is crazy (maybe certifiably) and full of funny situations, and Georgia’s love life is, well, complicated but constantly interesting and exciting.

I’d recommend this series to teenagers… mature upper grade middle school girls through high school and adult readers (especially if you work with or have teenage girls). Here are all ten books of the series, in order:

1. Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging

2. On the Bright Side, I’m Now the Girlfriend of a Sex god

3. Knocked Out By My Nunga-Nungas

4. Away Laughing on a Fast Camel

5. Dancing in My Nuddy-Pants

6. The He Ate My Boy Entrancers

7. Startled By His Furry Shorts

8. Love Is a Many Trousered Thing

9. Stop In The Name Of Pants!

10. Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me?

Three Books in Three Days…

I’ve been reading a ridiculous amount of books lately… like 14 since the beginning of March. Considering the fact that I teach full time and have two young children, that’s nothing short of miraculous. Most of them have been young adult books, but a few grown-up books have crept in my reading queue. I’ve actually gotten to the point where I kind of prefer the the young adult literature… more fun, less pretentious. (By the way, as Barnes and Noble is one of my very favorite places, all links go to the B&N website.)

Here are some highlights:

Sleepaway Girls by Jen Calonita. Cute, cute, cute. She wrote the Secrets of My Holloywood Life series, which is also great… good, wholesome, clean fun. I have no qualms at all about recommending her books to middle school girls.

The Cupcake Queen by Heather Hepler. This is a great book for any girls going through changes in their families… parent divorce, etc. It’s a great read – very well written, and completely appropriate for middle schoolers. Totally made me want to bake and decorate some cupcakes.

It’s All About Us by Shelley Adina. This is the first in a series about a group of high school girls who attend the exclusive Spencer Academy in San Fransisco. The book is high interest and fast paced, and I LOVE that Adina is a Christian who can write a young adult novel that is clean, faith-filled, and not at all preachy or cheesy. (I’m on the fourth book now… we’ll see if I can finish it tonight, which would make four books in four days!)