Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters

by Meredith Zeitlin

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101560501
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	03/01/2012
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	939 KB
Age Range:	12 Years

About the Author

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

Editorial Reviews

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.)

Publishers Weekly

Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters is a lighter but still accomplished look into adolescent female friendship ... Love triangles, unfortunate photographs, soccer bullies and a mother who thinks she understands ‘Typical Adolescent Behavior’ are just some of the obstacles [Kelsey Finkelstein] runs across in this sitcom-paced, laugh-out-loud book."” —NPR

 
“Zeitlin offers a story that encompasses all the horrors and thrills of starting high school ... A hilarious look at freshman year, this story serves to prep the incoming for the best and the worst high school has to offer.” —Booklist

 
“Kelsey is a funny, likable heroine who experiences realistic school and relationship problems that any teenage girl will be able to relate to…[an] enjoyable diversion.”—Kirkus Reviews

 
“Readers will enjoy this humorous story where friendship, family, and self-acceptance are much more important than plans for greatness. This coming-of-age novel will not only entertain but also educate those transitioning into high school. It is a quick read bound to appeal to a female audience.” —VOYA

 
“As the humorous mishaps mount in this laugh-out-loud coming-of-age novel, Kelsey gains insight and perspective through introspection and dialogue with friends. The values of good friendships are further evidenced in the honesty Kelsey and Cass show when they reconcile. In a sweet reversal, Kelsey finds that one of her many disasters has introduced her to a new guy who is, indeed, worth the wait.”—School Library Journal

 

“Cute and sassy, open-minded and truthful, Kelsey Finkelstein will be your new best friend.”—E. Lockhart, author of The Boyfriend List and The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

 

“Meredith Zeitlin accurately portrays the rocky road of starting high school with humor and heart. Kelsey's character is realistic and believable, navigating disaster after disaster with strength and her trademark wry commentary. Friends, foes, drama, and love—Freshman Year is full of it!”—Erin Dionne, author of Models Don’t Eat Chocolate Cookies

 
“When I was transitioning into high school I would have been better off had I read Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters. Kelsey and I would definitely have been friends.” —Kristen Schaal, comedian featured on The Daily Show and Flight of the Conchords

— various

From the Publisher

Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters is a lighter but still accomplished look into adolescent female friendship ... Love triangles, unfortunate photographs, soccer bullies and a mother who thinks she understands ‘Typical Adolescent Behavior’ are just some of the obstacles [Kelsey Finkelstein] runs across in this sitcom-paced, laugh-out-loud book."” —NPR

“Zeitlin offers a story that encompasses all the horrors and thrills of starting high school ... A hilarious look at freshman year, this story serves to prep the incoming for the best and the worst high school has to offer.” —Booklist

“Kelsey is a funny, likable heroine who experiences realistic school and relationship problems that any teenage girl will be able to relate to…[an] enjoyable diversion.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Readers will enjoy this humorous story where friendship, family, and self-acceptance are much more important than plans for greatness. This coming-of-age novel will not only entertain but also educate those transitioning into high school. It is a quick read bound to appeal to a female audience.” —VOYA

“As the humorous mishaps mount in this laugh-out-loud coming-of-age novel, Kelsey gains insight and perspective through introspection and dialogue with friends. The values of good friendships are further evidenced in the honesty Kelsey and Cass show when they reconcile. In a sweet reversal, Kelsey finds that one of her many disasters has introduced her to a new guy who is, indeed, worth the wait.”—School Library Journal

“Cute and sassy, open-minded and truthful, Kelsey Finkelstein will be your new best friend.”—E. Lockhart, author of The Boyfriend List and The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks


“Meredith Zeitlin accurately portrays the rocky road of starting high school with humor and heart. Kelsey's character is realistic and believable, navigating disaster after disaster with strength and her trademark wry commentary. Friends, foes, drama, and love—Freshman Year is full of it!”—Erin Dionne, author of Models Don’t Eat Chocolate Cookies

“When I was transitioning into high school I would have been better off had I read Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters. Kelsey and I would definitely have been friends.” —Kristen Schaal, comedian featured on The Daily Show and Flight of the Conchords

various

Gr 8–10—Just before entering the ninth grade in New York City, Kelsey Finkelstein, 14, tells her friends Em, Cass, and JoJo that she wants to make their freshman year the best one yet. However, on her road to "defying expectations," she encounters some setbacks. Part of her plan is to attract the eye of a cute classmate Jordan, but, to Kelsey's dismay, Cass hooks up with him instead. She earns a spot on the soccer team, yet the surly captain assigns her the hazardous role of goalie. Then her photo is published in the school newspaper with a full shot of her broken front tooth. When she tries out for the school's production of Fiddler on the Roof, true to form, she lands the role of a fat male butcher with a pasted-on beard. As the humorous mishaps mount in this laugh-out-loud coming-of-age novel, Kelsey gains insight and perspective through introspection and dialogue with friends. The values of good friendships are further evidenced in the honesty Kelsey and Cass show when they reconcile and how the group of friends supports JoJo when she admits her attraction to another girl. Alcohol and marijuana appear in the novel, but are not glamorized, as the users either get nauseated or arrested. In a sweet reversal, Kelsey finds that one of her many disasters has introduced her to a new guy who is, indeed, worth the wait.——Susan W. Hunter, Riverside Middle School, Springfield, VT

School Library Journal

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)

Kirkus Reviews