The Rites & Wrongs of Janice Wills

Gr 8 Up—This novel, structured to include the field notes of an aspiring anthropologist reporting on the American adolescent to the editor of Current Anthropology, pleasantly repackages a somewhat predictable teen story arc with wit, solid writing, and able characterization. Gangly small-town Southerner Janice, 16, has pegged everyone in her high school into labeled categories, but what she reports about her contemporaries eventually becomes less scientific and more personal as she seeks self-realization, triumph over the ruling mean girl, and, of course, a boyfriend. Janice's disdain for the annual Miss Livermush Pageant, which pits high school juniors from all over the county in competition for a scholarship and coveted social queen status, doesn't stop her from participating to keep her friend Margo company and to report on the strange tribal practices from an insider's point of view. Janice has her first "almost-kiss" with her friend Paul, but it's her crush, cool Jimmy Denton, who lures her to her first high school keg party. Their kiss is a disaster, and her relationship with Margo, who confronts her about her detached, judgmental style, crashes as well. Janice strives to change, writing the best darn Livermush essay the pageant folks have ever seen and parading onstage in a fancy blue dress with the other finalists for the talent and interview portions of the contest. By participating in the local rites of adolescence, she rights her own wrongs and begins to see her peers as more than just members of anthropological cliques.—Suzanne Gordon, Lanier High School, Sugar Hill, GA