A Is for Angst

A is for Angst, B is for Boobs (either breasts or idiots) . . . This is the teen alphabet according to 14-year-old Theresa Tolliver. Growing up is complicated for a girl who can’t quite decide if Barbie dolls are age appropriate (and what’s with those perfect plastic Barbie boobs?) and who spends a great deal of time deconstructing the high school class system: Normals (Ns) like Theresa are careful to do nothing to stand out; Above-Normals (ANs) are the blessed ones who have perfect breasts (see Barbie above), boyfriends and the right clothes; Sub-Normals (SNs) are what every N fears becoming. Then there’s Achingly Adorable Adam (AA), Theresa’s almost boyfriend, though he doesn’t know it yet. A nd there’s Theresa’s family. What do you do with a pregnant mother, a socially phobic father, a domineering older sister, a jerk for a brother and eccentric grandparents on both sides? It’s a good thing Theresa can rely on her best friend, Biff—except now that the AN poster girl Ashleigh (it’s A shla-a-y, not Ashlee) has taken a sudden interest in Theresa, Biff is acting kind of strange. . . .

Barbara Haworth-Attard, Governor General’s Award finalist for her YA novel Theories of Relativity, has infiltrated the teen girl universe to create this funny, smart and honest look at the complicated lives of today’s adolescents.