The Year My Life Went Down the Loo
Gr. 10-12. Transplanted from Seattle to an English hamlet called Piddlington-on-the-Weld, 16-year-old Emily Williams braces herself for a year abroad. Life in a country "that still has discos!" really "irks her pickle." No makeup is allowed at school, and the uniforms are "gacky"; at home, a poltergeist haunts her panty drawer, and her parents are generally appalling. Emily vents her frustrations in wickedly funny e-mails to her best friend, spiced with British slang and her own idiosyncratic coinages. Sex is a major theme here (the cartoonish cover belies content that is solidly YA), but despite Emily's air of worldliness, her essential naivete becomes obvious when she falls in with a more experienced crew--for whom drinking and sex are apparently common leisure activities. The plot is utterly formulaic: girl has sleazebag love interest and then boots him for not respecting her personal boundaries. But like her spiritual cousins Georgia and Bridget, appealingly anguished Emily will have girls wanting to embrace her as their uber-coolio new best friend. Three more visits with Emily are in the works.Jennifer MattsonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved