reviews

"Neither flippant not angelic, this promising first novel strikes a refreshingly honest tone. Readers will laugh their way through Tru's poignant and clever take on everyday life."
-Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"This warm, funny debut has well-developed characters and a fast-moving plot."
-Kirkus Reviews

"The story is a good mix of well-handled subject matter and reader appeal."
-Booklist

awards

A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age
A Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Book
A Massachusetts Children's Book Award Master List Nominee
Women's National Book Association Honor Book

reviews

"This energetic, enjoyable problem novel is a must-read for wordsmiths."
- Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"Enlightening, insightful novel."
- Booklist

"Tashjian's story is as absorbing and cleverly constructed as a challenging word puzzle...The situations are realistic, and Monica's Multiple Choice questions add suspenseful page-turns. Readers with obsessive tendencies will especially empathize, but all adolescents can appreciate the book's basic message -- that it's okay to be yourself. -The Horn Book

awards

A New York Public Library Best Book for the Teen Age
A Children's Literature Choice
A Young Hoosier Award Nominee
Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice
A Chicago Public Library 'Best of the Best' Book

reviews

"[A] thoughtful and involving work on a complicated subject, and it'll set a lot of readers talking."
-The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"Insightful, -- Will hit teens on a visceral level."
- Booklist

"Tashjian's novel succeeds where it breaks away from the norm."
-Voice of Youth Advocates

"Janet Tashjian's refreshingly different take on a sobering and pervasive issue for teens rings solidly true. Tashjian has crafted a novel that promotes both empathy and understanding about adolescent abusive relationships. An expert at balancing the humorous with the bittersweet, Tashjian examines a deadly serious topic."
-The Horn Book

awards

A Book Sense Children's Top Ten
A Teen People "Now" section pick
Starred Review, School Library Journal