Synopsis: Kelsey Finkelstein is fourteen and FRUSTRATED. Every time she tries to live up to her awesome potential, her plans are foiled – by her impossible parents, her annoying little sister, and life in general. But with her first day of high school coming up, Kelsey is positive that things are going to change. Enlisting the help of her three best friends — sweet and quiet Em, theatrical Cass, and wild JoJo — Kelsey gets ready to rebrand herself and make the kind of mark she knows is her destiny.
Things start out great - her arch-nemesis has moved across the country, giving Kelsey the perfect opportunity to stand out on the soccer team and finally catch the eye of her long-time crush. But soon enough, an evil junior’s thirst for revenge, a mysterious photographer, and a series of other catastrophes make it clear that just because KELSEY has a plan for greatness… it doesn’t mean the rest of the world is in on it. (Goodreads.com)
Let me just say it plain and simple: this book is funny! If you have a soft spot for the humor in Brent Crawford's Carter Finally Gets It, well then hop on board the Kelsey Finkelstein train! She wants her freshman year to a success on every level and she'll do anything she can to make it happen. Unfortunately, that leads to some situations that prove funny to the reader but are definitely not Kelsey's ideal freshman experience. That being said, I really liked how Kelsey was open to so many experiences. She truly didn't let anything hold her back, even when the situations showed her in not the best of moments. But that didn't stop her from trying soccer, theater, heck, even the newspaper!
I totally admit to having a rather juvenile sense of humor so this book totally worked for me in that respect. There is a scene involving a beard during theater that had me cracking up nonstop. It was absolutely hilarious and told in a very personable, droll fashion. That describes Kelsey's voice somewhat. She has all these grand ideas that she pursues with enthusiasm and they don't always work out but somehow she takes it in stride, chalking it up to another experience.
I also liked that Kelsey and her friends didn't totally lose touch with each other during the course of the book. That's not to say it was all sunshine and roses because it wasn't but it was nice to see this core group of friends still having something in common and not totally going their separate ways even as they made new friends and became a bit more independent of each other.
This is a very lighthearted book but that being said, there are scenes of drinking and a lot of talk of sex. I'd like to be able to say you could sell this to an seventh or eighth grader but the scene where Kelsey pukes because of alcohol will not be for every reader. It's a definite case of having to know your reader. The cute cover is going to grab many readers though and hopefully they'll learn a positive lesson from Kelsey's experience which is I'm sure what the author was hoping for. You can also sell this on the sweet romance which is not a focus of the story but is definitely there. Kelsey crushes on a photographer gone awry which leads to even more humor in this story.
Kelsey is a great character to spend time with. Zeitlin has a really great sense of humor and it appears in the book. Additionally, Kelsey is close to her family, for all her histrionics about how her mom fails to appreciate her and invades her privacy, etc. Her parents have an active role in her life and that shows throughout the course of the story.
If you read and liked Brent Crawford's Carter books or Don Calame's Swim the Fly, I truly think Meredith Zeitlin is the female equivalent to those stories. Kelsey has quite the freshman year of high school filled with mistakes, excitement, surprises, and growth. I'd love to see another adventure from Kelsey. I know I would devour it and I think this book is going to have great appeal for younger teen readers. Meredith Zeitlin, you've come into the YA world with a bang.
Tomorrow, look for a guest post from Meredith Zeitlin!
Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters is available on March 1 from G.P. Putnam's Sons.
Other reviews:
YA Reads reviews Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters
Books from a Shelf reviews Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters
The Cheap Reader reviews Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters
ARC provided by publisher/agent.
