by Maureen Johnson
ages: 14+
First sentence: “The host stood at his podium under the pink-and-yellow neon arch and surveyed the three girls who had just come through the door.”

Things you need to know: Nina, Mel and Avery are best friends. Have been forever, or at least since they were five. The summer before their senior year, Nina heads off to Stanford to attend a conference. And Mel and Avery, left at home working dead-end jobs at a local restaurant, realize that they’re in love. Or at least think they are. And when Nina comes home, everything changes.

Why this is controversial: Mel and Avery are girls. Yup. There’re gay characters. Well, only one of them ends up being “really” gay (is that such a thing?); the other’s just wondering and questioning and trying to figure herself out. Obviously, this is disturbing to (many) people.

Why this is silly: They’re just people, kids trying to figure things out. And Johnson’s exploring whether or not a friendship could handle the stress of two of them dating (and hiding it; I think the hiding it was the most stressful part), and how these individual characters, who think they have known all about each other, would deal with something as monumental as one of them coming out of the closet.

My favorite thing: the guys. Actually, just Parker. He’s a guy the girls pick up as a friend… and he’s just awesome. There when they need him, willing to lend a smile or a shoulder. He was great comic relief, as well as just being an all-around good guy. Is it bad that in a book full of girls, I like the guy best? The girls, themselves, seemed a bit cardboard for my case (the overachiever, the aggressive one, the shy one), but I found that over the course of the book they kind of grew on me, especially Mel. In the end, she was my favorite. But, I still like Parker best.

It’s a good book — not my favorite of Johnson’s — but a good, solid story, one where friends stick it out through thick and thin, and realize that sometimes being friends — just being friends — and having friends is the most important thing.