Waiting for You

Gr 7—10—Marisa is getting tired of waiting for life to happen and wonders if she will ever find "the boy." As she struggles to find love, she also must deal with the ups and downs of friendship and the major changes that have rocked her family and will change her life forever. Susane Colasanti's use of descriptive text as she describes Marisa's small town on the water gives listeners a very real sense of place. There are few surprises in this book (Viking, 2009), and listeners will quickly figure out which boy Marisa will end up with as well has who the mysterious underground DJ is whose podcasts are the talk of her school. Despite the predictability, narrator Kate Rudd is able to take Colasanti's already believable cast of characters and make them immensely empathetic. With poignancy and a dash of humor, she captures all the heartache Marisa goes through as she copes with her parents' impending divorce and her first real boyfriend. Give this contemporary problem novel with a light tone to listeners who have enjoyed Sarah Dessen, Elizabeth Scott, and Deb Caletti's stories.—Shari Fesko, Southfield Public Library, MI