March 29, 2005
YA43: Prom
I saw this one in B&N the other day, and since I had liked Speak and since they were offering signed copies (it says "Dance!" and the author's signature), I decided I might as well go for it. Plus, with Brooke here shopping for prom dresses, a book about the prom seemed appropriate. I managed to finish the last few chapters this afternoon in time to blog a bit about it before I need to rush off to work. I liked it. The main character has a voice so out of my sphere of experience, but I found myself caught up in her life and the people around her and looking forward to seeing how the prom turned out.
Prom
Laurie Halse Anderson
Viking Juvenile, 2005
215 pages
reviews
Ashley Hannigan is barely getting through the last months of her urban Philadelphia high school, has a huge backlog of detentions to serve, a drop-out boyfriend she wants to move in with, a pretty crazy family, and a job serving pizza in a rat costume. So when her math teacher steals the money that was supposed to pay for the prom, no one is more surprised than Ashley that she ends up saving the day -- even though she had no intention of getting swept up in the prom fever that her best friend, mother, aunts, and everyone else was obsessed with.
Booklist explains that, "Here, though Anderson's bright, witty narrator is a self-professed 'ordinary kid,' whose problems, while intensely felt, are as common as a burger and fries. She's as ambivalent about her boyfriend, who is both sweet and undependable, as she is about her college prospects; her part-time job serving pizza in a rat costume is far from fulfilling; and her family, which she calls 'no-extra-money-for-nothin’-poor,' mortifies her (her pregnant mother's belly 'screams to the world' that her parents have sex), even as they offer love and support. In clipped chapters (some just a sentence long), Ashley tells her story in an authentic, sympathetic voice that combines gum-snapping, tell-it-like-it-is humor with honest questions about her future. The dramatic ending may be a bit over-the-top, but teens will love Ashley's clear view of high-school hypocrisies, dating and the fierce bonds of friendship." The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books writes, "Ashley represents a point of view not often seen in literature for young people, that of the kid who's not expecting or desiring to go to college, who's satisfied with her working-class surroundings and future. Her cheerful pell-mell family and neighborhood is depicted with tenderness as well as humor.... Anderson keeps the pace swift, dividing the narrative into numbered sections that are more brief scenes than chapters and emphasizing snappy dialogue that's imbued with the reality of longtime friendships. The Cinderella theme is handled with the lightest of touches (readers may not even initially pick up on the heroine's name); it's not really a story about Cinderella so much as a tale about the impulse to have one's moment of celebration, and readers will revel in Ashley's opportunity while dreaming of their own."
Ages 12 & up, Grades 7 & up
1.Posted by Emily at March 29, 2005 04:00 PMOnce upon a time there was an eighteen-year-old girl who dragged her butt out of bed and hauled it all the way to school on a sunny day in May.
2.
That was me.