Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Winter Reading 2015 Wildlife


Two girls with not much in common, other than a 9-week term at a school's outdoor education campus, are the narrators of this book (told in alternating journal entries). Sibylla has always attended Crowthorne Academy and has known this experience at Mount Fairweather was coming. She hopes to be assigned to a cabin with her best friend, Holly, and wonders if a boy she kissed at a party before the trip will pay any attention to her during their time at Fairweather. Lou has been doing distance education from home all year and has now transferred to Crowthorne for the final term of the year. Sibylla's godmother had her model in a perfume ad campaign and it has made her into a celebrity with the in-crowd at school and she is trying to fit in. Lou is grieving the death of her friend, Fred. She is a bookish girl in "geek chic" glasses who doesn't care what anyone thinks of her.

Through their differing viewpoints, we watch as events play out over the nine weeks at camp. Some of it is silly - like the pranks played by the different cabins of campers on each other. Other things are more serious - like Sib's friend pushing her to get physical with Ben (the boy from the party). As one girl tries to reconnect with daily life as a normal teenager, the other worries over how she is perceived by others and who she really wants to be.

A well done reflection on the grief of losing young love and the pressures of teenage peers to fit in and do the popular thing. Best for ages 13+.

I read an e-book provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

22907574

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