Be That Way(YA)

"What's the cutoff date for New Year's resolutions? Do I still have time? Is there a point? I went back through my journals to see if I accomplished any of my resolutions from the last three years, and my success rate is zero. Also, now that I've reached the mature age of sixteen, it disturbs me that the main people invested in my self-improvement are Estée Lauder, Bobbi Brown, and whatever has-been actress is shilling for weight watchers this year."
Meet Christine, narrator of Hope Larson's Be That Way. Since her father is dead and her mother works long hours, she has a lot of care taker responsibility for her younger siblings, April and Brandon. This is probably why she can't understand why anyone has kids. "I like to think that when I'm Mom's age I'll be living in a garret in Paris, drinking espresso with my much younger lover, not frantically assembling cheese sandwiches."
She loves writing for her school newspaper, The Chronicle, and hanging out at their office. She's broken up with her first actual boyfriend. She plays the plain Jane sidekick to her shiny best friend, Landry, a girl who attracts the attention of almost all the guys, seems to be all that, behaves impulsively, and is clueless about boundaries. Christine yearns to be shiny but doubts that it will ever happen. Maybe if she can go away to college and reinvent herself. But her mother seems intent on her staying local and commuting.
In late April something happens at a party. Neither Landry nor long time friend and fellow Chronicle journalist, Paul, will have anything to do with Christine. She's grounded for a month for getting drunk. But when she regains her freedom it doesn't make much of a difference. It's not like she has places to go and people to see.
But summer might not be so bad. She scores a job at a video store and starts getting to know a cute neighbor.
Be That Way is a great summer YA read. Many a younger reader will identify with Christine's existential crises. The many illustrations are amazing and really help bring the the text to life.
On a purrrsonal note, I am so frustrated. It was the weekend that people with trucks go through the trailer park taking big stuff like furniture away for free. I wanted to contribute Adam's old bed which he got second hand. It takes up a huge amount of space that is at a premium in trailers. It's all beat up and lumpy. Not fit for human slumber. I couldn't get it out of his room. It would have to be taken apart and I didn't have the right tools. So all I could do was free up some room by turning it on its side. I'm just trying to organize the trailer so it doesn't look all cluttered.
Jules Hathaway