Pink

March 7, 2011
Ava has a lot going for her. She's smart and has sophisticated Chloe as a girlfriend, but she wants to reinvent herself as someone more traditionally feminine—like "girls who liked boys." When she transfers to an elite private school, she is taken in by a group of high-achievers, but finds it difficult to fit in with their seeming perfection. Rejected from the school play, Ava volunteers with the stage crew instead, and begins bonding with the misfits who build sets. But her popular friends judge them harshly, and Ava also faces constant anxiety as she tries to keep her relationship with Chloe a secret. Though readers will likely empathize with Ava's efforts to compartmentalize her life, the thoughtful conversations she has about the complexity of gender and identity, both with her stage crew friends and her parents, make up the strongest parts of Australian author Wilkinson's story. Ava's worlds collide in a melodramatic conclusion that strains believability, but her final realization ("Maybe I didn't have to choose for sure now") is cogent and satisfying. Ages 12–up.

March 1, 2011

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

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2011

Frustrated at being penned in by her counterculture parents, 17-year-old Ava shifts away from her unconventional school and a longstanding relationship with her beautiful but sometimes chilly girlfriend in this funny and poignant Australian import. She is unsure about many things; her decision to switch to an academically rigorous high school is her first step in trying out a new persona. Her plans also include wearing the soft pink sweater of her dreams, attempting to fit into the mainstream and possibly, just maybe, dating a boy. Nothing turns out as she'd expected, though, and Ava finds herself spending a lot of time with the outcast members of her new school's stage crew (or "Screw" as they've proclaimed themselves), to whom she relates much more than she'd like to admit. Ostensibly a focus of the novel is Ava's process of understanding her sexuality, but her search for belonging doesn't stop there. While the resolution of her struggle is too predictable, the delightfully authentic, bawdy dialogue and cast of intensely likable misfits energetically propel this story forward. Readers will enjoy the ride. (Fiction. 13 & up)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

January 1, 2011
Grades 8-11 I never wore pink. Pink wasnt cool. Pink wasnt existential, explains Ava as her story of identity confusion begins. But clad in cotton-candy cashmere, she starts life at a posh new private school where both academic success and a smooth conformity seem the norm. Too bad Ava has to hide her desires from both her aggressively antiestablishment parents and her supersophisticated but desperately jaded girlfriend, Chloe, whos been left behind in public school. Ava, despite coming out as a lesbian, especially feels the need to hide the thought that she might want to kiss a boy. The change of environment creates its own perplexities, foremost among them Avas encounters with a bunch of theater-crew misfits. How to make the world of the screws, Chloe, and the more conventional new school friends fit together (or not) powers Avas narrative. Written with a great deal of snarky wit, this Australian import never gets overly heavy despite all the hand-wringing. A refreshing addition to the LGBT oeuvre.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2011
When Ava transfers schools, she ditches her girlfriend and black clothes, opting instead for pastels and the pursuit of a boyfriend, in an attempt to be "normal." When she still doesn't fit in, she struggles to be okay with being herself--a charming oddball who can't be labeled. This Australia-set story of teenage rebellion is as unique as its protagonist.

(Copyright 2011 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)