Young Adults

Reviews

“Franklin offers readers an engaging protagonist whose humor and unusual situation highlight the lonely and displaced feelings common to many teens. Resolution is not easy or smoothly achieved, and the painful encounters with parents and siblings, as well as with Tate and Alexa, gradually lead Jenny to use her art to express her new view of the world. The blend of romance, artistic expression, and angst about belonging in a family provides some depth, yet this is essentially a lighthearted tale.”- School Library Journal

“After reality takes over Jenny’s idealized vision of sisterly love, she begins to learn the true meaning of family and her own place in it. Franklin’s thoughtful story recognizes the questions and answers teens need, as today’s definition of family continues to evolve and expand.”- Kirkus

“Unlike the rest of her athletic family, 16-year-old Jenny Fitzgerald prefers painting to team sports. Feeling lost on the family sidelines, she wonders about her biological dad, an anonymous sperm donor she knows only as #142: “Mom had me when she was super work-focused and a single and thought she’d be alone forever.” Encouraged by Tate, a thoughtful jock who surprises Jenny with his interest, she logs on to the Donor Sibling Registry and discovers a sister, Alexa, a New York teen whose visit to the Fitzgeralds’ Connecticut home upends Jenny’s sense of family, her relationship with Tate, and her view of herself. With perceptive detail, Franklin skillfully folds the intriguing topic of donor-bank siblings into a larger story about a teen’s search for identity and love. Tate feels idealized; even Jenny wonders, “Is this guy for real?” But readers will easily relate to Jenny’s funny, questioning, first-person voice and the finely observed “small shifts…and currents of connection” that make up family dynamics. Suggest this with Brendan Halpin’s Alex-award winning adult title Donorboy (2004).”- Booklist

Reviews

“The biting commentary on “reality” TV and society’s obsession with fame will keep readers laughing, as will all the remembered Jenna & Jonah scenes. Love, American style.”—Kirkus Reviews

“This delightful, funny romance novel based on Much Ado about Nothing, challenges our everyday scripts and false judgments. Readers will not need to know the play to enjoy the plot but may develop an interest in and an appreciation for Shakespeare’s plays and insight.”—VOYA

“While the book certainly plays to fantasies about what it would be like to live a Hannah Montana–style triple life, there’s enough exploration of character and questions about work, success, and relationships here to satisfy fans of more complex romances. Alternating perspectives let readers in on both sides of this rocky but ultimately sweet and satisfying fauxmance turned romance.”—BCCB

Reviews

“’Attention-grabbing… fine romantic comedy. Liana has a reputation for loving to kiss, and many boys have been the beneficiaries of her passion. It has never taken her beyond locking lips, however, and now she’s experimenting on herself this summer: Can she become a new person and leave her kissing-bandit ways behind? An aspiring scientist doing planetary research, Liana understands planets and their predictable orbits and patterns; it’s people she doesn’t always get. Nor does Hank, a teenager with Asperger’s syndrome who gets music but can’t read social cues. Put them together, telling their stories in alternating first-person narratives, and the result is a story laced with intelligent humor, well-drawn characters—even the secondary ones—and believable situations…readers will find themselves cheering for the proper alignment of these star-crossed lovers.”- Kirkus

“…A smart and unusual romance just about right for fans of John Green.”- Booklist

Reviews

“This well-constructed novel is told in alternating chapters by Tessa, a young woman who gathers up the courage to come out of the closet during her senior year, and Lucas, her lifelong best friend. Tessa believes she has dropped sufficient hints about her preferences so Lucas will get the point. When Lucas asks Tessa to the prom through the local supermarket’s twenty-foot illuminated sign, the sting of her refusal is a little hard to take. That incident and the fact that Tessa has asked her girlfriend Josie to the prom quickly become news in the small Indiana town. Lucas’s initial anger is misrepresented as antigay rhetoric, which adds fuel to the fire of bigoted citizens that want to bar Tessa from the dance. The beauty of the novel is how deftly Franklin and Halpin weave in so many unexpected consequences of Tessa’s decision. Lucas feels betrayed more than dismissed, then struggles to correct his initial selfishness. Classmates who could care less about Tessa’s lesbian status blame her for turning their rite of passage into a media spectacle. Tessa’s parents’ family business is threatened by boycotts—by folks who refuse their patronage on principle or just because they do not want to deal with picketers. Tessa, never one for the limelight, is a reluctant poster child for the gay rights movement. It is more than just unfortunate that books about gay and lesbian teens suffer the same discrimination as the people they describe. The large and growing genre no doubt is dismissed by a large population of readers, much like the talented individuals they also dismiss. Franklin and Halpin’s Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom is an excellent example. This is a novel about hard decisions, unexpected consequences, the meaning of real friendship, and the elusiveness of true love. It is a great story with a delightfully surprising and satisfying conclusion.” – VOYA

“High school seniors Lucas and Tessa have been lifelong friends, but when he asks her to the prom she turns him down, revealing that she is gay and has a girlfriend. Angry at this rejection and that Tessa kept something from him, Lucas betrays Tessa’s secret and even gives a mean interview to the school newspaper (“[O]ur whole Prom is going to be about her instead of being a normal dance”). There are protestors outside Tessa’s parents’ grocery store, the school administration is threatening to expel her, and the school board may cancel the prom. Franklin and Halpin’s third he said/she said collaboration (following Jenna & Josh’s Fauxmance and The Half-Life of Planets) will have readers empathizing both with Lucas’s desire to “make things right” and Tessa’s pain as she deals with hate in the hallways and at home. Lucas’s ultimate “grand gesture” is farfetched, but it’s also a fun release after an emotional story about the struggles gay teens often face and what it means to be a friend.”– Publisher’s Weekly

“This is a great book that explores what can happen to a friendship when it’s tested and the struggles that some people face in modern-day America. The story spreads the message that we must accept everyone in our society. Lucas and Tessa’s friendship journey is especially heartwarming and easy to relate to. The dialogue is much like a real teenager’s and the sarcasm of the characters makes you love them more and more. The cover of the book is also very chic. I hope for more books like this one.”—SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL