Scary Beautiful. by Niki Burnham. 2006. Simon & Schuster. 264 pages. ISBN: 9780689876196“Scary beautiful” is how people describe Chloe Rand, the heroine of this 2006 romance by Niki Burnham. Until recently, her relationship with her boyfriend has kept the other boys in her class at bay, but when he unceremoniously dumps her and moves across the country, she finds herself being treated very differently by her classmates. Being an attractive single girl invites all kinds of rumors and insults. The only plus side of Chloe’s newly single status, aside from lots of free time to spend with her friends, is that it frees her up to flirt with Billy, the cute geeky boy working at the pizza shop. There’s just one catch - one of Chloe’s best friends is already interested in Billy. Will she understand Chloe’s feelings, or will Chloe lose her friends along with her boyfriend?
I can’t get enough of Niki Burnham! There is just something about her writing style that makes me want to devour her books in one sitting. This one is especially refreshing because it characterizes a beautiful girl as more than a mere Barbie doll, or popular mean girl. While I think most girls are annoyed by beautiful women who lament their good looks, Chloe is not annoying, and the reader comes to sympathize with her particular set of issues. Billy is also my kind of romantic hero - the nice boy who blends in the background until you notice how cute he really is.
I noticed some commonalities with the
Royally Crushed trilogy I read a while ago. The biggest one is that the protagonists in both stories have a core group of supportive friends from whom they keep secrets for fear of being misunderstood. I also noticed that both girls are torn between love interests, and that each one seems to prefer the boy who is less likely to return her feelings. These are themes I enjoy in YA fiction, and I think Niki Burnham has a real knack for presenting them with just the right amount of drama to engage tween and young teen readers.
Scary Beautiful is great for pleasure reading, and is sure to appeal to middle school girls who also like Lauren Barnholdt, Lauren Myracle, and Rachel Vail.
Looking for more teen and tween romance recommendations? Click
here to browse my past romance reviews.
I borrowed Scary Beautiful from my local public library.
Clarice Bean Spells Trouble. by Lauren Child. 2006. Candlewick. 189 pages. ISBN: 9780763629038I love Lauren Child’s Charlie and Lola picture books, so it seemed only natural that I would also enjoy Clarice Bean. Interestingly, I did not enjoy
Utterly Me, Clarice Bean, the first chapter book in the series, but came back for more anyway. And it’s a good thing because this book is a thousand times better!
Clarice Bean Tuesday begins this book with an ominous hint toward something terrible she’s done, then flashes back to tell the reader the whole sordid story. The situation involves an impending spelling bee, certain to embarrass Clarice Bean beyond her wildest imaginings, the class “bad boy” Karl Wrenbury, whose behavior continue to escalate the longer his father is away, a class production of The Sound of Music, and the wisdom of Ruby Redfort, Clarice Bean’s favorite literary character, about whom a movie will soon be released. Based on Ruby’s advice about friendship, Clarice Bean does something to help Karl, which in turn lands her in hot water, but also somehow makes her a better person and more likeable character.
What I like so much about this particular book is that Clarice Bean isn’t a perfect goody two-shoes, but she also isn’t an inherently “bad” kid. She falls in that in-between area where I think so many kids would place themselves. She tries to obey authority, but finds it difficult when an authority figure is unfair, and her empathy for a friend keeps her from being able to ignore his feelings. She is kind of a combination between a character like Junie B. Jones, who also has a lot of smart-mouthed things to say about her experiences at school, and Just Grace, whose quests to save her friends from disaster often end in unexpected ways.
Whereas Clarice Bean sounded a lot like Lola in the first novel, in this one she has her own voice, which is filled with great phrases like “nosy parker” and a strong sense of humor. I also found the Ruby Redfort references to be far less annoying in this book, possibly because they related more closely to the plot.
All in all, this is a fantastic chapter book that exposes American kids to a slightly different writing style and use of language. Kids who have grown up with Charlie and Lola and the Clarice Bean picture books will ease right into the chapter book series, and fans of other spunky middle grade girls will also take to Clarice Bean right away.
I borrowed Clarice Bean Spells Trouble from my local public library.
Spin Control by Niki Burnham. December 28, 2004. Simon Pulse. 256 pages. ISBN: 9780689866692
Do Over by Niki Burnham. September 26, 2006. Simon Pulse. 240 pages. ISBN: 9780689866692
In these last two books in the trilogy now compiled as Royally Crushed, Valerie continues to experience the ups and downs of her relationship with Prince Georg. In Spin Control, she believes she has been dumped, so when she heads home to Virginia for Winter Break, she goes on a date with David Anderson, only to discover that she loves Georg more than ever. In Do Over, she returns to Schwerinborg to reconcile with Georg, and to work on gaining confidence in his feelings for her, even if they can’t always demonstrate their affections where the press can see. Before the end of the trilogy, Valerie also sees her dad start dating again, and finally finds a way to come clean with her friends about her mother’s newly revealed homosexuality.
I know this trilogy is not the best-written in the world, but I really loved reading it. The ultimate outcome was fairly predictable, but the emails between Val and her friends in Virginia, and her awkward uncertainty around Georg, as well as the cattiness of the girls in her Schweringborgian school, all made for great entertainment. I was distracted repeatedly by references to Heath Ledger, who has died since the publication of these books, but the Google books preview of the new edition shows that this problem has been corrected with several passing references to Ledger resting in peace. The only other thing that felt vaguely out of place was the fact that Val and her friends email rather than text or send Facebook messages, but I am sure there are teenagers out there somewhere for whom this is still the norm, so it doesn’t ruin the books by any means.
All in all, these are light reads, even at their most serious moments, and they provide insight into all the drama of first relationships without ever becoming too weepy, or losing hope that the ending would be happy. The series was definitely worth finishing, and I’ll be looking for more from Niki Burnham, starting with her latest book for teens, Shot Through the Heart.
Read my review of the first book in the Royally Crushed trilogy, Royally Jacked, here.
I borrowed Spin Control and Do Over from my local public library.
