Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom

by Emily Franklin, Brendan Halpin

Overview

Lucas and Tessa's friendship is the stuff of legend in their small Midwestern town. So it's no surprise when Lucas finally realizes his feelings for Tessa are more than friendship and he asks her to prom. What no one expected, especially Lucas, was for Tessa to come out as a lesbian instead of accepting his heartfelt invitation. Humiliated and confused, Lucas also feels betrayed that his best friend kept such an important secret from him.

What's worse is Tessa's decision to wear a tastefully tailored tuxedo to escort her female crush, sparking a firestorm of controversy. Lucas must decide if he should stand on the sidelines or if he should stand by his friend to make sure that Tessa Masterson will go to prom.

Emily Franklin and Brendan Halpin tackle both sides of a ripped-from-the headlines story to show that true friendship will triumph after all.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802723505
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	03/27/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Emily Franklin collaborated with Brendan Halpin for their novels Jenna&Jonah's Fauxmance and The Half-Life of Planets. She has also written a dozen novels for young adults, including the Principles of Love series and The Other Half of Me, and she edited It's a Wonderful Lie: 26 Truths About Life in Your Twenties. Emily's work has also appeared in The Boston Globe and national magazines.
www.emilyfranklin.com
Brendan Halpin was a high school English teacher for ten years before penning his first novel. He is the author of How Ya Like Me Now and Forever Changes, as well as several novels for adults.
www.brendanhalpin.com
Emily Franklin collaborated with Brendan Halpin for their novel The Half-Life of Planets. She has also written a dozen novels for young adults, including the Principles of Love series and The Other Half of Me, and she edited It's a Wonderful Lie: 26 Truths About Life in Your Twenties. Emily's work has also appeared in The Boston Globe and national magazines. She lives in Massachusetts. www.emilyfranklin.com
Brendan Halpin was a high school English teacher for ten years before penning his first novel. He is the author of How Ya Like Me Now and Forever Changes, as well as several novels for adults. He lives in Massachusetts. www.brendanhalpin.com

Editorial Reviews

In a story unapologetically ripped from the headlines, a small-town high-school student starts a furor by announcing her intention to wear a tuxedo to prom and bring a same-sex date. Lucas has always loved his best friend Tessa. But his grand, public invitation for her to be his prom date unexpectedly inspires Tessa to acknowledge what she has known in the back of her mind for years: She is a lesbian. In chapters narrated alternately by Luke and Tessa, readers experience Luke's initial anger and Tessa's growing self-confidence. Then it all hits the fan: Parents become outraged, students vandalize Tessa's locker, the school board threatens to cancel prom and a media circus descends as the story becomes national news. Readers familiar with lesbian would-be promgoer Constance McMillen will recognize the sequence of events here, from the arrival of a supportive but brusque ACLU lawyer to the exclusionary private prom parents create after the school-sponsored dance is axed. And despite a few standout characters--Luke's mom in particular takes a funny and surprising tough-love approach to her son--the book mostly reads as a dramatization of the 2010 news story. An accessible, if not original, take on coming out and overcoming adversity. (Fiction. 12 & up)

Kirkus Reviews