About the Book
-
Author:
- Claire Forrest
- Genres:
- Boy-Girl Romance
- Contemporary
- Voices:
- Cis Girl
- Greek Diaspora
- Straight
Cover Story: Who’s the Chairest of Them All?
Drinking Buddy: Down the Hatch
MPAA Rating: PG (teenage sass back)
Talky Talk: Dimples =/= Personality
Bonus Factors: Disabilities, College
Bromance Status: Freshman Mixer
Cover Story: Who’s the Chairest of Them All?
Another example of how to do a cover correctly. Great image of Effie and her dreams of the future. Not oversexualized, no need for any of the other characters, and the mirror motif really sells it.
The Deal:
High school senior Effie has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair to get around. Unfortunately, the world isn’t designed for people who can’t step over things. The school elevator is commandeered for promposals. Someone forgets to register her second floor locker and her lock is cut off and her supplies dumped at the office. People congregate on the ramps. To make things worse, every time she tries to address these situations, the school administration goes behind her back and talks directly to her parents. Effie is sick of being referred to as ‘The girl in the wheelchair.’
But Effie is about to graduate. And while her parents assume she’ll stay in Minnesota for college, she dreams bigger. There’s a school in New York City where Effie thinks she can blossom. Will her parents allow her to go? Is the school going to be accessible? And will she ever get her cute friend, Wilder, to see her as more than just a set of wheels?
Drinking Buddy: Down the Hatch
I immediately liked Effie, which is not something I can say of a lot of YA main characters. The college transition is that weird time when you go from having adults taking care of your every need, overruling your choices, and second guessing your plans, to suddenly being completely on your own. If Effie can’t even straighten out her locker situation, how can she be expected to navigate New York City? Most college bound kids are just expected to find their own way, but if Effie can’t even get to class because a subway elevator isn’t working, then maybe she should stay closer to home. Maybe forever.
MPAA Rating: PG (teenage sass back)
This was a very innocent book. The worst thing Effie and her friends do is go swimming in a hotel pool where they are not registered guests. I don’t even remember any bad words. Of course, Effie is a teenage girl with normal feelings. Her medical condition causes her knees to want to lock together and it occurs to her that one day that might prove…inconvenient.
Talky Talk: Dimples =/= Personality
While Effie was a great character, her love interest, Wilder, left me wanting. I’m so sick of YA boys with dimples. Aside from that, he was just kind of a friendly guy. Other than his good looks, I couldn’t figure out why Effie was so smitten with him. Still, the book did not end with the happily ever after for this couple, and I really respect the author for that.
Bonus Factors: Disabilities
So someone uses a wheelchair. Big deal, huh? Just make sure there are ramps and don’t ask them to hold your coat.
Effie really opened my eyes to the struggle of people with mobility issues. Did you know that as late as the 1960s, people who used wheelchairs were told they had no business getting a higher education? And when they first enrolled at UC Berkley, they were all housed in a hospital, as it was the only accessible building on campus? While the Americans With Disabilities Act changed a lot of this, Effie still has to put up with a lot of BS. Now that she’s a senior, she can finally leave her school for lunch. Except that the kids all have to officially check out at the door–at the bottom of the stairs. No exceptions. Sorry, Effie, it’s a security thing.
Or when she visits her dream campus and is told that there is a special dorm for people like her. Single rooms! Effie resents that she’ll have to miss out on the roommate experience (as a former college student, I can tell her that she may be romanticizing living with a stranger). Also, there’s a gravel path that forms the main artery of campus, something Effie can’t use. But all those rich alumni donors just have too many good memories to allow it to be paved.
And then there’s the matter of visibility. When was the last time you saw someone using a wheelchair in a commercial, a movie, or an ad? And if you did see someone, did you feel like they were only included to achieve some kind of diversity quota? Effie feels she could make a difference in this, if she could find a college that would allow her to flourish.
Bonus Factors: College
It’s a big, wonderful adventure. You’re out from under your parents’ thumb, you come and go as you please, and you’re free to take your own path. But your parents aren’t there to look out for you, you may not have a good idea of exactly what your goals are, and quite frankly, the whole experience can be overwhelming. Maybe Effie should just go to school in Minnesota, near her parents and sister and friends. Why risk it?
Also, Effie’s family seems to have unlimited money, as they have no problem arranging college visits at schools all over the country.
Bromance Status: Freshman Mixer
I hit it off with this book and I can’t wait to read more by this author.
Literary Matchmaking
How I Paid for College by Marc Acito also deals with the college transition.
As does Margot Wood’s Fresh.
And the anthology Study Break.
FCC Full Disclosure: I received neither money nor college swag for writing this review. Go MU Tigers!
