Praise for FREAKED: “First-time author Dutton shows a sharp wit. A hoot.” - Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)
Praise for FREAKED: “Fast, wry first-person commentary.” - ALA Booklist
Heaven, Iowa isn’t exactly celestial to fifteen-year-old Kelly Louise, who’s moved with her mother to the small rural town to live with Kelly Louise’s grandmother and cousin Natalie. The most exciting thing to happen in Heaven isn’t the arrival of Kelly Louise’s wannabe smart mouth and citified ways, which are generally greeted with ridicule, but the recent abandonment in a cornfield of a newborn baby, which then died. Kelly Louise’s mother confidentially informs her daughter that it was innocent, pillar-of-the-church-youth-group Natalie who had the baby, a secret that Natalie has only shared with Kelly Louise’s mother, and our protagonist’s stay in Heaven starts to take on a different complexion. Kelly Louise’s narration of this strange interlude is wry and often hilarious (sometimes from her own mistaken but seemingly unshakable convictions about her worldly wisdom), yet the picture of the town Dutton draws through her heroine’s voice is quirky and affectionate as well as clear-eyed. The character portraits are particularly impressive in their originality and richness: Natalie, voluptuous, sheltered, and convinced that her baby was God’s problem and not hers; Kelly Louise’s neighbor and classmate, Kenny the reprobate, who has kept silent about his presence at the baby’s birth and who provides Kelly Louise with her first sexual experience. Underneath, though, is an often subtextual grappling with the emotional reality of Natalie’s act, and Kelly Louise, who eventually reports her cousin’s crime, proves an unlikely source of wisdom: “Natalie should have the chance to fall and be forgiven, not just by us, but by herself and everyone else.” Readers will relish both the entertaining narration and the inevitable ensuing arguments about the ethics of the situation. - Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
Named for actress Tina Louise, Ginger on Gilligan’s Island, Kelly Louise and her single mother are leaving Des Moines for her mother’s hometown, Heaven, Iowa. But life is far from idyllic as the 15-year-old moves in with her cleaning-obsessed Nana, shares a bedroom with her Jesus-, kitten- and unicorn-loving cousin Natalie, undertakes the impossible task of finding a boyfriend mid-school year and becomes intrigued by the media frenzy surrounding Baby Grace, a newborn abandoned in a cornfield. Her edgy, first-person narration puts forward a drama queen in public, but she lays herself bare with self-deprecating humor in private. Occasional touches of wry humor, such as her partying classmates at Carrie Nation High School (named for the hatchet-wielding member of the Temperance Movement), punctuate Kelly Louise’s angry and guilt-ridden struggles with impulsivity, sexuality, religious hypocrisy and small-town life and its gossip. When she learns the mystery of Baby Grace’s murder, the teen must weigh her truthful convictions against the consequences of revealing family secrets. Kelly Louise’s fresh voice will change the way readers think about “good” girls. - Kirkus Reviews
Kelly Louise’s narration…is wry and often hilarious (sometimes from her own mistaken but seemingly unshakable convictions about her worldly wisdom). The character portraits are particularly impressive in their originality and richness. Readers will relish both the entertaining narration and the inevitable ensuing arguments about the ethics of the situation. - Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
Touches of wry humor punctuate Kelly Louise’s angry and guilt-ridden struggles with impulsivity, sexuality, religious hypocrisy and small-town life and its gossip. Kelly Louise’s fresh voice will change the way readers think about “good” girls. - Kirkus Reviews
Named for actress Tina Louise, Ginger on Gilligan's Island, Kelly Louise and her single mother are leaving Des Moines for her mother's hometown, Heaven, Iowa. But life is far from idyllic as the 15-year-old moves in with her cleaning-obsessed Nana, shares a bedroom with her Jesus-, kitten- and unicorn-loving cousin Natalie, undertakes the impossible task of finding a boyfriend mid-school year and becomes intrigued by the media frenzy surrounding Baby Grace, a newborn abandoned in a cornfield. Her edgy, first-person narration puts forward a drama queen in public, but she lays herself bare with self-deprecating humor in private. Occasional touches of wry humor, such as her partying classmates at Carrie Nation High School (named for the hatchet-wielding member of the Temperance Movement), punctuate Kelly Louise's angry and guilt-ridden struggles with impulsivity, sexuality, religious hypocrisy and small-town life and its gossip. When she learns the mystery of Baby Grace's murder, the teen must weigh her truthful convictions against the consequences of revealing family secrets. Kelly Louise's fresh voice will change the way readers think about "good" girls. (Fiction. YA)
