I've been reading a lot of high school fiction in the past couple of weeks. Many times when I read such material, I find myself rolling my eyes because the characters are so stereotypical that I generally have the urge to throw up in my mouth a little. I've been really lucky recently, though, reading books that have had characters who were so real and so endearing that a few text messages thrown in here and there didn't bother me as much as usual. The best of these by far is Cameron Tuttle's bright and brilliant Paisley Hanover Acts Out. Paisley Hanover is a character unlike any I've met in my recent forays into high school fiction. She's spunky, she's smart, and she's really just trying to figure out where she fits into her high school hierarchy. The story begins with Paisley being shuttled to Drama class on the first day of her sophomore year, something that certainly wasn't part of her seven point plan for making this year the best of her life. What follows is a story filled with twists and turns, quirky supporting characters, and a strong, willful protagonist who is so ridiculously refreshing that I was wishing she'd been my best friend in high school. I absolutely adored this book and especially its completely undefinable and always awesome Paisley.
Paisley brings to mind some of the other awesome divas I've met in recent reads, including Louise in Robyn Harding's hilarious and touching tale My Parents Are Sex Maniacs: A High School Horror Story which goes to show you that no one has a perfect family and was so laugh-out-loud hysterical that I was actually a little bummed when it ended, and Alice in Liz Gallagher's charming high school tale The Opposite of Invisible.
I've been thrilled with the amount of reading I've been able to do lately, and reading books like Paisley Hanover just gets me super excited to read more, more, more. I personally don't relish the idea of going back to high school myself, but if I can read stories like these, I'll gladly tag along any day!
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