Geography of Girlhood by Kirsten Smith

Smith, K. (2007). The Geography of Girlhood. (p. 192). Little, Brown Young Readers.
ISBN : 0316017353

Classification: book, fiction

Genre: realistic fiction

Age Level: 9th-12th grade

Subjects: family, identity, love story, novel in verse, siblings

Reader's Annotation: Penny faces huge challenges in her freshman and sophomore years of high school.

Summary: This novel in verse follows Penny through her 9th and 10th grade years. Her mother has abandoned her, her best friend spirals into depression and must be institutionalized, her older sister is in and out of trouble, and her father remarries and brings home a wife and a stepson. Things are tough for Penny. She makes some good choices and she makes some bad choices, but ultimately survives her last year of middle school and first year of high school. This is an honest look at some of the hardest parts of growing up.

Reviews / Awards:

New York Times Review

Author Info:
Kirsten Smith's Website

Potential Hotspots:

drinking, sex, abandonment

Readalikes:

• What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonia Sonnes
  
• Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah
  

Why it belongs in a YA collection:
Crams more teen angst and issues into 184 pages (especially when you consider they are poems, so per word is even higher) than any other book I can imagine reading. Great as an example of alternative story tell, fantastic for reluctant readers, I think many teen girls will feel like this novel is ripped from their own brains.

Other:

Really great cover art, and I found the poems to be really lovely.

Evaluation:

4 stars