Don't Stop Now

Gr 9 Up—It's the summer before college, and Lil is ready to take it easy. She has money from her bat mitzvah and a partner in crime: her best friend, Josh. Her plans are thwarted, though, when a high school acquaintance, awkward Penny, leaves a phone message for Lil saying only, "I did it," and disappears. Lil is torn between her desire for a drama-free summer and a conscience that won't let the message go. Calls from the missing girl's parents, the police, and the FBI don't help, either. Lil and Josh take matters into their own hands and try to find Penny themselves, helped by more phone messages from her. As the two drive from Chicago to Portland, OR, they try to figure out if they are just friends or more. Throughout, Penny's diary entries interrupt Lil's first-person narrative to paint a picture of an insecure young woman in an abusive relationship. When Josh and Lil finally find her, all three have changed in positive ways; however, their overall motivations don't make a lot of sense, so the book's resolution lacks impact. At times the story suffers from detailed accounts of the kitschy tourist traps the teens visit along the way, and Penny's heady story line never really gets the kind of attention it deserves. Still, Josh and Lil have the kind of carefree trip that many readers will find enviable and about which they will enjoy reading.—Jennifer Miskec, Longwood University, Farmville, VA