How long have you had your BFF?
If you’ve always gone to the same school, maybe you’ve been best friends since kindergarten.
Perhaps you found ya girl because your lockers were next to one another or because she said something hilarious in English class and you had to meet her. Or maybe you met when you were babies because your mothers were BFFs, too.
However you met, you know you’ll be best friends until the end of time, right? That’s what everybody in the Del Rio Bay High School clique thought, too, but in the new book “Flipping the Script” (c.2009, Dafina / Kensington, $9.95 / $11.95 Canada, 320 pages) by Paula Chase, it’s the end of junior year and maybe the end of the clique.
Mina Mooney couldn’t wait until her shift at the mall was over. Not only did she have a frienemy relationship with her supervisor, Jess, but the sooner time disappeared, the faster Mina’s boyfriend, Brian, would be home for the holidays. Having a boyfriend away at college was such a drag.
It was going to be great to have the whole clique together again. With Brian gone to Duke, it seemed to Mina like it was always couples time with the clique. Lizzie and Todd hooked up, and Kelly had Greg. Jacinta was supposed to be dating Raheem, but with him away at Georgetown this year, Mina noticed that JZ and Jacinta were getting tight. Outta sight, outta mind, right?
And then there was Michael. Mina had known him since they were five years old, and she loved him like a brother. He was JZ’s boy, too, but Michael seemed to be pulling away from the clique lately.
Back when they were freshman, Michael had confided a secret to Lizzie, knowing that it would be no big thing to her. But now that Michael is deeply involved in Bay Dra-da, the school’s drama department, it’s getting harder and harder to hide his true self.
The summer before senior year was supposed to be fun. But when JZ learns of Michael’s secret and Mina sees Brian listed on a fan website, it seems like the whole DRB clique is flipping out.
Many times, when I’m reading a teen novel written by a grown-up, I notice that the adult author has the speech all wrong. Teens speak their own slanguage, but most books don’t reflect that.
Happily, “Flipping the Script” does.
Author Paula Chase makes every member of the Del Rio Bay clique as real as possible. Mina is a dreamer and an optimist, and she hopes that the clique will be together forever. Michael is deep, JZ is a playa, and Jacinta is playing him. Add them all together and you’ve got a ton of drama. Throw in a teaser chapter for the next DRB book, and you’ve got a book that will have fans wanting more.
Filled with texting and teen-speak, this book is meant for teens ages 12-to-16 but adults are allowed to read it. So get “Flipping the Script”, read it, enjoy it, and share it with your BFF, S-O-O-N.
