The Implosion of Aggie Winchester

by Lara Zielin

Overview

Sixteen-year-old Aggie Winchester couldn't care less about who's elected prom queen-even if it's her pregnant Goth-girl best friend, Sylvia Ness. Aggie's got bigger things to worry about, like whether or not her ex-boyfriend wants to get back together and whether her mom will survive cancer.

But like it or not, Aggie soon finds herself in the middle of an unfolding prom scandal, largely because her mom, who is the school's principal, is rumored to have burned prom ballots so Sylvia won't be elected queen. Aggie's own investigation makes her wonder if the election could be dirty on both sides.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101517659
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	08/04/2011
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	316 KB
Age Range:	14 Years

About the Author

Lara Zielin, author of the critically acclaimed Donut Days, a Texas Lone Star Reading List Pick, lives in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

Editorial Reviews

Teen melodrama that absolutely oozes angst.

Aggie Winchester, a junior at rural St. Davis High, is one of precisely two goth girls in her entire community. She and her best friend Sylvia spend their time skipping school, collecting piercings and getting into trouble with boys who are no good for them—boys who only want to see them in the dark, preferably in bed, and who will blatantly ignore them in the light of day. Then, on the same day, Sylvia discovers she's pregnant and Aggie learns that her mother, also her school principal, has breast cancer. Aggie and her mother have been on the outs since Aggie's freshman year, when she earned permanent pariah status simply for being the principal's daughter. How will the cancer affect their stagnant relationship? Will Sylvia's pregnancy teach her about love and responsibility? These pressing questions aren't abandoned entirely, but here the novel inexplicably veers off into much more pedestrian territory while maintaining its off-the-charts melodramatic pitch. Suddenly, pregnant goth Sylvia has become a contender for prom queen, but has someone rigged the elections? Is it Sylvia? Is it Aggie's mom? Is it Sylvia's new best friend Beth? At this point, readers may not care.

The premise has promise, but Aggie comes off as inauthentic as the novel's tidy resolution. (Fiction. 14 & up)

Kirkus Reviews