Analee, in Real Life

Gr 9 Up—Analee is a 16-year-old girl from Florida, but she feels more comfortable being Kiri the Night Elf Hunter in her online role-playing game. She uses these games and her virtual crush to hide from reality—primarily the grief from losing her mother, the conflicting emotions of her father remarrying, and the confusion about a riff with her best friend. That is, until she becomes lab partners with the star soccer player and school heartthrob, Sebastian. What starts as mutual silence turns into an unlikely friendship. This coming-of-age story boasts a refreshing revelation at the end, dissecting complicated themes through quirky humor and the occasional fun list. Analee is a fully developed protagonist who learns how to face the challenges in her life. Sebastian encourages her growth but remains stuck in his own cycle, unable to overcome his personal hang-ups. Analee's family members do not change over the course of the novel, but she learns from their personalities and actions. It is through these stagnant secondary characters that she is able to come out of her shell and begin to understand her own emotions.