Forgoing my usual Electronic Thursday post because I am just that excited about the U.S. debut of Australian teen services librarian Lili Wilkinson. Smart, funny, individual, open-hearted, uncontrived - Pink is like the Ferris Bueller of YA novels. Herewith, Pink:
I think, if my husband and I had girls instead of our two boys, I might be sorely tempted to move to Australia or New Zealand. If the girl protagonists of the last couple of YA novels I've read from those parts are any indication, girls down there are smart and strong and funny even when they screw up.
Which Ava, the star of Pink
Ava thinks maybe she might like going to prom - with a boy, wearing a corsage. She thinks it might not be so bad to wear skirts. And she is absolutely sure that her favorite color, secretly, is pink.
So she transfers to an elite high-performing high school. She starts dressing girly. She cultivates friendships among the Pastels, the preppy, sure-of-themselves perfect people at her new school. But after bombing at the auditions for the school musical, she finds herself on stage crew, among the few black-clad misfits on campus.
And oh, the shenanigans that ensue. While trying to be a Pastel, she finds that she enjoys herself more among the stage crew. Even though she is pursuing a lacrosse-coifed jock at her new school, she tries to maintain her relationship with the beauteous and acerbic Chloe. How all this gets juggled and what happens when the balls drop to the floor and go bouncing all around the stage is a disaster that is just plain fun to watch.
There's so much to love here, but I think I'll have to adore the characters the most. The stage crew misfits, of course, are fun. Their banter alone makes this book a priceless addition to a short list of realistic YA fiction that also includes Paper Towns
Brittle Chloe is the personification of outrageous cool. I knew a girl just like her in high school - never knew what became of that girl but I always expected her to turn up as the owner of a cabaret-style nightclub in New York. Or an NPR overseas correspondent.
Even the glowing preps are given individual strengths and traits - they are more than just The Smart One, The Artistic One, The Slutty One. Ok The Slutty One is a bit one-dimensional, she doesn't have much dialogue.
Finally, I have a few random points to make. Yes the title of the book is Pink and the title of this blog is Pink Me, so I would naturally be expected to at least try this book out. But two separate editors at Harper urged me to read it, both saying, "BESIDES the fact that it's called Pink - you're just going to love it."
AND... any book that successfully integrates a rather involved joke from the Aristophanes play The Frogs - to the point that as soon as I finished the book I fished out my old copy of Aristophanes and found that scene and laughed myself silly over it - that is a book that seeks to share the love. Also there are references to the Hubble Space Telescope. And a sci-fi movie marathon. Pranks. Physics. More Greek.
Also, sigh. Sadly, I guess this is still a rare and great thing, and so it's probably important that I point it out. Wish it were not still rare: gay, lesbian, and questioning characters who are just gay, lesbian, and questioning people, and whose sexuality is not the point of the whole book or even the point of their characters. Although there is more than one interesting conversation about homosexuality and image and femininity. Nice stuff. Plus, one homophobic character who gets over it. It can happen.
For nerdy girls who like math and aren't ashamed of it. For non-nerdy girls who like a funny book. For anyone who has ever hoped that being a teenager can have a happy ending. A big box of chocolates and a bouquet of daffodils to Lili Wilkinson.
Comments