Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters

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This item will be available on March 1, 2012.

Overview

Laugh-out-loud funny high school drama - perfect for fans of Lauren Myracle and Meg Cabot

Let's say you're fourteen and live in New York City. You'd think your life would be like a glamorous TV show, right? And yet . . . You don't have a checking account, much less a personal Black American Express card. You've never been to a club, and the only couture in your closet is a Halloween costume your mom made from an old laundry bag.

In other words? You're Kelsey Finkelstein - fourteen and frustrated. Every time she tries to live up to her awesome potential, her plans are foiled. Kelsey wants to rebrand herself for high school to make the kind of mark she ...

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More About This Book

Overview

Laugh-out-loud funny high school drama - perfect for fans of Lauren Myracle and Meg Cabot

Let's say you're fourteen and live in New York City. You'd think your life would be like a glamorous TV show, right? And yet . . . You don't have a checking account, much less a personal Black American Express card. You've never been to a club, and the only couture in your closet is a Halloween costume your mom made from an old laundry bag.

In other words? You're Kelsey Finkelstein - fourteen and frustrated. Every time she tries to live up to her awesome potential, her plans are foiled. Kelsey wants to rebrand herself for high school to make the kind of mark she knows is her destiny. But just because Kelsey has a plan for greatness . . . it doesn't mean the rest of the world is in on it.

Kelsey's hilarious commentary and sardonic narration of her freshman year will have readers laughing out loud - while being thankful that they're not in her shoes, of course.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
In voiceover artist Zeitlin’s debut novel, Brooklynite Kelsey Finkelstein—the latest in a long line of self-obsessed protagonists who can’t see past their own problems—hopes to “make a mark” in her freshman year of high school. But from the tacky red blazer her mother forces her wear to school to getting stuck playing goalie on the JV soccer team and landing the role of a fat, middle-aged butcher in the school production of Fiddler on the Roof, nothing is going according to plan. Meanwhile, one of Kelsey’s best friends turns traitor by hooking up with a boy Kelsey has “had the world’s biggest crush since approximately birth.” Kelsey’s travails are entertaining, but it’s hard not to feel like Zeitlin is playing her heroine for a buffoon (perhaps most egregiously when Kelsey decides not to listen to the song “Defying Gravity” before performing it for an audition). And while underage drinking is hardly taboo in YA novels, there’s a surprising amount of it, nearly all consequence-free, other than the chipped tooth Kelsey gets—just one more woe-is-me moment for our girl. Ages 12–up. (Mar.)
Kirkus Reviews
Another goofy, sweet teenage girl pratfalls through her first year of high school in this winsome, if predictable debut. Kelsey Finkelstein may live in New York City, but her life is far from that of Gossip Girl. Instead of high-stakes social politics and steamy hook-ups, Kelsey's life consists of evading the nosy clutches of her interfering mother while trying to maintain strong ties with her three besties: Em, JoJo and Cassidy. Determined to "[r]evamp myself for a new era. You know, like Lady Gaga," Kelsey boldly tries out for JV soccer and the high-school production of Fiddler on the Roof, with decidedly mixed and humorous results. Her friends are a reliable support system, until Kelsey discovers that Cassidy is making out with her crush object Jordan, which causes the group to splinter. Luckily a cute school-newspaper reporter is waiting in the wings to heal Kelsey's broken heart. While Zeitlin breaks no new ground here, Kelsey is a funny, likable heroine who experiences realistic school and relationship problems that any teenage girl will be able to relate to. The dialogue-heavy novel moves breezily from one disaster to the next, but because of its similarity to so many other chick-lit titles, is unlikely to linger longer in readers' minds than the latest pop song before being replaced by something just as pleasantly appealing. An undemanding and enjoyable diversion. (Fiction. 12-16)

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780399254239
  • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
  • Publication date: 3/1/2012
  • Pages: 288
  • Sales rank: 763,297
  • Age range: 12 - 15 Years
  • Product dimensions: 5.76 (w) x 8.54 (h) x 1.06 (d)

Meet the Author

Meredith Zeitlin is a voiceover artist who has worked in commercials, film and television shows. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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