Pink

Gr 9 Up-Ava, an Australian teen, has begged her parents to let her transfer from her underachieving high school to an exclusive and rigorous private school. Her parents, open-minded progressives who threw a party to celebrate her coming out, reluctantly agree. Her girlfriend, Chloe, sophisticated, intellectual, and highly possessive, is also not pleased. Ava is immediately befriended by Alexis, petite, perky, popular, and intelligent, who encourages Ava to audition for the school musical. Humiliated by a disastrous audition, she joins the stage crew, made up of the school's outcasts and oddballs. Ava doesn't tell anyone about her sexual identity and withdraws from Chloe. She becomes closer to her stage-crew friends, while her more popular friends disdain her involvement with them. Failed attempts at matchmaking, a final argument with Chloe, and the revelation that she is not sure of her sexual orientation create a roller-coaster of emotions. While Ava is a sympathetic character who feels that she has disappointed a lot of people and doesn't know how to make amends, Chloe becomes increasingly insufferable. Wilkinson authentically captures the social awkwardness of high school life and love. Passionate confessions made by several key characters are a bit over-the-top but don't distract from the story. Some characters are rather quick to forgive past wrongs, but this is an entertaining story about teen angst, sexual identity, and high school relationships from a promising debut author.—Jennifer Schultz, Fauquier County Public Library, Warrenton, VA