Top 5 (6) Books: High School Young Adult Fiction

So, obviously a lot of YA contemporary novels have High School as their main setting, but there are plenty that take place over the summer holidays, or at parties, or at college, or on a road trip. High School is a strange and unique place. It needs to navigated. You need to survive it. You're meant to figure out what you want to do and who you want to be. While you're in it, it feels like the most important time in your life, it feels like your whole world. I've picked 6 of what I think are the best High School based YA novels. They each get to the essence of the High School experience for each of their characters. It would've probably been good if I had actually read them when I was in High School (I mostly read Harry Potter and Confessions of Georgia Nicolson, which are both set mostly in High Schools so I guess I got some of the experience). Here they are:

The Perks of Being a Wallflower- Stephen Chbosky

Possibly the ultimate High School misfits story. Charlie is dealing with a whole lot of repressed-childhood-memory issues, and on top of that has to deal with being a shy, intelligent, wallflower of a teenage boy. The friends he makes (fellow wallflowers), and the experiences they give him (parties, drugs, mix tapes, girlfriends, The Rocky Horror Picture Show) paint the ultimate picture of being carefree and non-conforming. Not caring about popularity in High School must be the best super power there is.

The Manifesto on How to be Interesting- Holly Bourne

Bree starts out the story as very unpopular at her High School. She doesn't care about popularity, or being pretty, or make up, or getting invites to parties. She in cleverer than everyone she knows and is trying to become a published author. When she begins her project on becoming more 'interesting', she ends up playing the system and manipulating the social hierarchy to end up on top. With a new hair cut, stylish clothes, sought after make up brands, and no more sticking her hand up in class, Bree very quickly becomes part of the 'perfects' clique. Bringing the system down from within, and herself with it, there is a definite 'being yourself is important' message. Not caring about popularity is great, but you need to care about yourself. 

Eleanor & Park- Rainbow Rowell

Another misfits novel, Eleanor and Park are both reasonably low in the social standings of their High School, particularly Eleanor, whose family is pretty poor and dysfunctional, so it's especially hard for her to be wearing the right clothes and rocking the right haircut. This is a love story of school-bus-headphone-sharing, and me-and-you-against-the-world first love. Finding refuge from life and school with each other, they are pretty determined to last forever, though they know the universe the probably against them. Eleanor & Park captures the essence of that first High School love. 

Only We Know- Simon Packham

Yet another misfit, Lauren is starting a new High School and trying to get away from the secrets of her past. Desperately hiding her secrets from her new friends, she gets involved in the school fashion show, goes to parties, goes on a date. With the added mystery and who-dun-it of someone from her past threatening to let her secrets out, Lauren attempts to navigate the already difficult waters of being a new student at a High School. The big twisteroo really makes this novel, and once we realise what Lauren has been dealing with, her High School journey becomes all the more impressive. In the end being herself does pay off, with her new classmates fully supporting her. 

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks- E. Lockhart

Frankie attends an extremely prestigious boarding school somewhere New England (I think). What makes this story unique, is that while a large portion of it centres on Frankie's rise to popularity through dating a popular guy, and her awareness of the fragility of her position at their table in the cafeteria, it mostly focusses on Frankie infiltrating an elite secret society and attempting to bring down the old-boys-network from within. Like Charlie in Perks, and Bree in Manifesto, she is way cleverer than most of the people she hangs out with, and her drive to be known and respected is about much more than popularity and security. It seems Frankie will continue being herself, and continue attempting to bring down old-boys-networks and patriarchy by any means at her disposal.

Before I Fall- Lauren Oliver

This time from the point of view of a popular High School senior, Sam, the entire book is set on one day, repeated seven times. It's February 12th, 'Cupid Day', which involves valentines and skimpy dressing for school, and a big party that night, at the end of which Sam dies in a car crash. As she lives the day over and over, Sam gets to learn more about her position in the social hierarchy of the school, and about fellow students, the lives of which she had previously deemed unimportant. She sees how her life has affected others, and how the simplest actions can change a whole day. Over the relived days Sam slowly realises, along with the reader, what she has to do to finally come to rest. While being true to yourself and living in the moment is important, being aware of your own impact on those around is equally valuable. 

Be true to yourself! Don't care about popularity! Care about yourself! Care about your friends! Be aware of your actions and their impact on other people! Fall in love, why not! Bring down the patriarchy! 

Review! Books I read in July: How To Be Bad, Vivian Versus America, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, Only We Know, Birdy

I read pretty much exclusively YA contemporary in July, with a few exceptions. On the list for today we have: How To Be Bad, Vivian Versus America, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, Birdy and Only We Know. I also read Lorali and Everything Everything, the review of which will follow at some point this month!

How To Be Bad

Written by three authors, E. Lockhart, Lauren Myracle, Sarah Mlynowski, we are given the three points of view of Vicks, Mel and Jesse as they take a road trip together. The three girls all work together at a waffle house and are all very different; Vicks loves to party and it's her suspiciously-quiet-newly-moved-to-Miami-for-college boyfriend who inspires the roadtrip; Jesse is the one who actually suggests the road trip and steals her mum's car to do so, which is very out of character for this very Christian girl, who lives in a trailer with her mum, who has just been diagnosed with breast cancer, a fact Jesse is not sharing with her friends; Mel is new to town and keen to be liked, the middle sibling from a rich family. Adventure ensues, with the 2 day road trip becoming some kind of emotional turning point for each of the girls. One of them falls in love with a stranger overnight, they all fall out and make back up, there's an alligator and a duckling, an almost hurricane, and a trip to Epcot. The book of obscure landmarks is a great device to get the characters in fun situations and I kind of wish more had been made of that, it was very John Green-esque. Overall its a quick read, perfect for summer holidays, with three female characters who all learn something about each other in order to better themselves.

Vivian Versus America

 I loved the first in this two-part series, Vivian Versus the Apocalypse, so I was super psyched to read Katie Coyle's sequel. It picks up where we left off with Viv and Harp in San Fransisco, under strange red skies, unsure of where to go next in their search for Peter and on their mission to take down the Church of America. Finding themselves under the care of a secret resistance organisation, of which Viv's half sister is a key member, they seek to spread their story of the fake rapture and find out where the rest of the missing raptured have ended up. Viv and Harp end up having to deal with issues of right and wrong on both sides of the war, figuring out where to place their trust, and how to navigate the madness of the Church of America and its power over the people. Old friends crop up and the actual non-religious end of the world looks to be at best decades or at worst a couple of years away. This was a fantastic end to the story, with Viv and Harp developing further the character they had become in the first part. The final scenes are pacey and exciting, and the looking-out-into-the-unknown ending was perfect. I would have loved a third part of this story, purely because I love the characters and want to see how they deal with what comes next for them, however I really respect that the story being told only needed two parts.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

E. Lockhart is fast becoming a favourite for me. I loved We Were Liars, it left me with chills and in need of a lie down and a stiff drink. The Disreputable History had me actually applauding in my quiet living room as a finished the final page. Frankie Landau-Banks is a wonderfully self-aware character, who aged 15, attends the prestigious boarding school her father attended before her. His talk of its secret elite society, the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds, and the old-boys network, inspires Frankie to seek out the secret, hidden book of the society's history and attempt to disrupt the decades old balance of power. Dealing with exclusivity, gender politics, patriarchal societies, this book is a brilliant challenge to established and outdated norms. The main plot line follow Frankie's rise to popularity as the girlfriend of Matthew Livingstone, a member of the secret society. Matthew keeps this secret from Frankie, much to her chagrin, leading her to investigate further and to her secret and anonymous take over of the Basset Hounds, pulling large scale pranks oozing with social commentary, which is for the most part missed by her fellow students. Intertwined with this Lockhart uses theories of the panopticon, references to P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster and the word play of 'neglected positives' to create a rich and intricate world of knowledge for Frankie to inhabit. Frankie is a intelligent, restless character, who breaks boundaries and rejects expectations, and I would love a whole series of Frankie Landau-Banks stories. 

Birdy

Birdy by Jess Vallance follows the story of Frances Bird, a loner who has made it all the way through to her teenage years without any friends. She is asked to be a buddy for a few day to new girl Alberta, and soon they are friends. Alberta is posh, a little eccentric, and unsure of her new school surroundings, having been home-schooled up until this point. Frances, whose new nickname coined by Alberta is Birdy, strives to look after her and make sure she doesn't make any crucial mistakes in the unforgiving world of high school. Alberta has a few secrets, from her time before coming to the school, to which she entrusts her new friend. As mysterious messages start appearing from apparent bullies and the secret is in danger of being revealed, Frances becomes even more concerned with keeping Alberta safe and happy. At first I thought this book would be slow and lacking in excitement, with Frances living with her grandparents, and having only one friend. However as Frances' paranoia over Alberta's safety and the security of their friendship begins to show, it becomes increasingly clear that Frances is an unreliable narrator. It definitely hit me as a twist with the dramatic events of the final chapters being narrated as no big deal by the clearly unstable Frances. I'm sure some people saw it coming a mile off but I had no idea what so ever what was coming. This is a great book if you love a bit of a who-dun-it in a high school setting.

Only We  Know

Simon Packham's Only We Know has a similar set up to Birdy, with Lauren starting a new school determined to reinvent herself after something we presume is bad has happened to cause her parents and sister to move town and start over. Lauren's sister Tilda is pretty unhappy with the move and seems to resent her sister for the move. At school, Lauren recognises someone from her past, Harry, and is terrified he will reveal her secrets to the rest of the school however he seems not to recognise her. She is settling in well and making friends, gets invited to parties and is helping with the school fashion show when mysterious messages and packages start appearing in her locker, threatening to reveal her secret. We see Lauren dealing with anger issues, running through coping mechanisms in her head, anxiety and stress causing eczema, and terrible nightmares haunting her every night. Lauren's secret is revealed to us very slowly, and again it hit me with a big twist, both the who-dun-it and the secret, although I'm sure many people were cleverer and saw it coming. 

Here's the SPOILER: 

at first when it is revealed Lauren is transgender and her transition caused terrible bullying at her previous, I was thinking that maybe this felt a little like short changing the issue, not giving transgender issues their full air time as we don't know the book it even about that until the end. However after I gave it a little more thought I began to see that the book doesn't need a big LGBT sticker on the front to let us know. That we don't know the character and her issues and anxieties are related to her being transgender, doesn't make them not so. Very cleverly the author presents the character as a person with problems and secrets and a past, and so when the big reveal occurs, we can look back think about whether we would have viewed the character differently if we had known the secret all along. I think this book will be a great way of changing people's perceptions, and would be a such a good one to be read by teenagers and discussed in a school setting, especially as Lauren is given such support from her school and peers and given a happy rather than tragic ending. 

Look out for my reviews of Lorali and Everything Everything in the next few days/weeks. I hope you are enjoying the August-blog-thon so far!