Girly Books

What can I say? I'm a girl. That's why Lisa Greenwald's My Life in Pink and Green made me happier than the baseball books. Very like The Teashop Girls, it concerns a girl, whose mother and grandmother run a struggling business. While Lucy would rather hang out with her friend Sunny (and her cute brother), she helps out in the pharmacy a lot after two staff members have to be let go. After she helps a girl fix a bad hair do before an important dance, she starts to build up a make over clientele and helps to bring the pharmacy up to date. The "green" part comes from a club that Lucy joins, and a town grant for "green" businesses for which she applies. A little improbable that a teen saves the business, but still a lot of fun, and very empowering!

I love how Tina Ferraro mixes fun books with problems. Her How to Hook a Hottie and Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress are already in tatters in my library even though they are fairly new! This one is every bit as good. Parker is mad because she didn't make the varsity soccer team. Her friends don't want to hang out without her because of this. She and her brother come up with an improbable master plan-- at the annual kissing booth run by the varsity members, his friend will demand to kiss Parker for $300. She will then HAVE to be put on varsity. The friend demands that the kiss be a good one, so Parker gets involved with a neighbor boy just for "kissing lessons". Since he's two grades behind her, this leads to some problems. There's a lot of mean girl issues, drama with the neighbors, and an authentic teen voice. I could see the holes in Parker's plan, but I don't think she could. There's a lot of kissing in this one, all very clean, but I love the fact that Tristan is a year younger and Parker still is enthralled with him. Very few books cover this topic. Very, very fun!