School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-Readers will enjoy 17-year-old Danielle Levine's antics as she writes about her senior year in essays assigned by her English teacher. Ms. Harrison doesn't always appreciate the latitude Danielle takes with each assignment and is frank in her responses, making readers feel the curse of the red pen. Danielle goes to an alternative high school in California where she struggles with OCD, has no friends, has to attend social-skills class, and has to deal with her crush, Jacob, who sends her mixed signals throughout the book. The teen is surely down on herself and readers will wonder why. As the plot turns, this well-developed character eventually reveals what caused her to leave her old school. Readers will watch her grow and appreciate her insightfulness into a variety of situations and classmates. Reluctant readers will appreciate the style of writing, and novice writers will see how it is therapeutic for Danielle. Initially readers understand why no one likes her, but by the end of her transformation, her classmates see her differently, and teens will, too. It is apparent that Vaughn understands adolescents and what it is like to watch them develop as writers and work through a traumatic experience. With a touch of humor and sarcasm throughout, this one is sure to find an appreciative audience.-Karen Alexander, Lake Fenton High School, Linden, MI (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Senior year is starting, but Danielle Levine isn't looking forward to it. Even though everyone at her school has a learning disability, it's still divided into cool kids and outcasts, and Danielle-with her flaming red hair, nonwaiflike physique, OCD, and penchant for hats-is in the second camp. Things get worse when she's forced to see the school psychologist and attend a social skills class. Vaughn structures her debut as a combination of Danielle's diary entries, e-mails, and the essays (usually autobiographical) she writes for English class. These give readers a rich stream of information about Danielle's attempt to face both the horrors of high school and the actual horror she's endured. Information about the latter comes out slowly, which works, since Danielle has organized her life around keeping it hidden. Vaughn skillfully shows how making an actual friend and being introduced to the model of The Big Lebowski's Dude (and his ability to "abide") contribute to Danielle's upturn. Her problems don't go away, but her perspective on them and ability to cope shifts and improves. Ages 14-up. Agent: Amy Burkhardt, Kimberley Cameron & Associates. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Written as a series of high-school English essays, private journal entries, letters, and e-mails, Vaughn's debut novel introduces senior Danielle Levine. The format works particularly well given that Danielle, a loner, finds it easiest to communicate through writing. She also has OCD, often rearranging her collection of snow globes for comfort, and she attends a special school, where she pines after Jacob. Danielle's voice is fresh, funny, and insightful, and her self-aware comments feel spot-on: I felt myself move into myself, literally, as if I had been, for years, a cartoon drawn by a drunk, cross-eyed artist who couldn't keep me in the lines. As senior year passes, Danielle steps out of her comfort zone to attend the class trip to England, falls in and out of love with unsuspecting Jacob, and most transformative of all, makes a friend, gay Daniel, becoming his fruit fly (a fag hag of sorts) as they bond over The Big Lebowski. By novel's end, readers will have only the highest of hopes for Danielle's future.--Kelley, Ann Copyright 2010 Booklist
