The Best Night of Your (Pathetic) Life
Gr 7-10-Mary's last hope to do something memorable in high school is to win the Oyster Point High Unofficial Senior Week Scavenger Hunt. After a fiasco at prom and losing her spot at Georgetown to the football jock, she is determined to take first place. She convinces her friends to help her gain enough points to beat the other seniors. They dash around town to find all sorts of items and they puzzle out clues left through text messages. As the afternoon and evening drag on, issues under the surface come to light, and nothing will be the same. Ultimately, Mary has to decide what's more important-her friendships or winning. Quite a few flashbacks explain the events leading to the night in the book, while the issues the characters deal with fill in gaps. The protagonist is not a sympathetic character, and while the scavenger hunt will keep readers turning the pages, the story falls a little flat.-Natalie Struecker, Rock Island Public Library, ILα(c) Copyright 2011.  Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc.  No redistribution permitted.