Nothing

June 26, 2017
Fifteen-year-old best friends Charlotte and Frankie believe that their lives are hopelessly dull compared to those of the characters in most of the YA literature they read. As if to prove her point, Char decides to write a novel based on their day-to-day existence. Though the girls are certain that the book will be as interesting as watching paint dry, they are surprised to learn that sophomore year can be exciting, if you pay attention. In her first work for teens, Barrows (the Ivy & Bean series) writes a realistic story about girls growing up in a suburban California town: Char and Frankie hang out, sometimes drink or smoke a bit, and think about kissing, growing up, taking chances, and feeling awkward. Their story unfolds through third-person chapters that alternate and overlap with Char’s borderline stream-of-consciousness book project: some readers will love her brash honesty, while others will find it distractingly rambling. And while plenty happens to Barrows’s characters, contrary to their own expectations, the book never exposes much about the secret lives of teenage girls. Ages 14–up. Agent: Liza Dawson, Liza Dawson Associates

Starred review from June 15, 2017
Charlotte and Frankie are typical high school sophomores struggling to be interesting in a land of boring. Nothing ever happens to them, so when Charlotte decides to write a book chronicling their lives, she suspects it's going to be pretty tedious. Shopping at the mall, hanging out with friends--this is the stuff of life as a 15-year-old but perhaps not the stuff of great literature. Except...in chronicling her life, Charlotte discovers that perhaps things aren't as boring as they thought. After all, the two white teens get to host their own New Year's Eve fancy dinner (even if it is attended by only the two of them), and they even embark on an epic road trip that might just lead to a longer adventure. The result is a charming novel about the daily ups and downs of school, love interests, friends, families, and social media. Barrows turns her keen observational eye toward teenagers, and the results are authentic and funny, filled with highly recognizable moments of teen angst and earned epiphanies. A moment in English class when some students of color question negative representation to their martinet of a teacher shines. Her characters--both teens and adults--are endowed with smart, realistic (and realistically foulmouthed) dialogue, and the problems they encounter both are believable and feel like glimpses into lives beyond the written page. Anyone who suspects their life is the most boring ever? Check out this book. (Fiction. 14-18)

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January 1, 2018
High school BFFs Charlotte and Frankie lament that nothing happens to them; nevertheless, Charlotte decides to write their life story for a school project. There are plot points--Charlotte flirts via text with a boy she's never met; Frankie learns to drive--but the story, with its alternating narration, is mainly character-driven. Barrows has a knack for female friendships, and Charlotte and Frankie are a memorable pair.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2018
High school BFFs Charlotte and Frankie are convinced they'd be terrible YA novel protagonists because nothing ever happens to them: their parents are still alive, they're not suicidal, they don't have wild sex with either boys or other girls. Nevertheless, Charlotte decides to write their life story for a school project: "It'll be, like, a searing document of today's youth and how incredibly boring our lives are!" Chapters alternate between Charlotte's first-person perspective and an omniscient third-person narration that mainly follows Frankie, who's occasionally not joined at the hip with Charlotte. There are plot points--Charlotte flirts via text with a boy she's never met; Frankie learns how to drive; the friends throw themselves a fancy New Year's Eve party--but the story is mainly character-driven. The book isn't as young as the cover suggests, and the girls aren't too goody-goody: they both swear, drink a bit, and occasionally, casually smoke pot. Frankie also has a weirdly charged encounter and kiss with an older friend of her brother's. (Frankie: "It was just a great moment." Charlotte: "Not a plot twist that's going to change the rest of your life?" Frankie: "It makes me feel like things I don't expect can actually happen. And like life is going to get more interesting than it is right now.") Barrows, author of the Ivy + Bean chapter book series, has a knack for female friendships, and Charlotte and Frankie are a memorable pair. elissa Gershowitz

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)