Welcome, Caller, This is Chloe

Coriell, Shelley  Welcome, Caller, This is Chloe      

 Amulet see Abrams, Harry      2012  297p  $16.95      978-1-4197-0191-7           ms/hs  VG     Realistic Fiction

KDRS radio station cannot survive without some new lifeblood, and it finds that lifeblood when Chloe comes aboard, looking for a junior service project that will benefit the community.  The spoiled, shoe-loving sister of five overachievers, Chloe is in the market for new goals and new friends, especially since her two best girlfriends, Mercedes and Brie, have begun to ignore her at school.  Not knowing the reasons why, she jumps into her role as a radio station promoter and finds herself rising to new popularity as Queen Chloe, the queen of the airways, who will ask her classmates at Del Rey High real questions in the hope of increasing the number of listeners and attracting promoters to keep the station solvent. 

As she continues to be a target of scorn by Brie and Merce, Chloe finds some solace in her relationship with her grandmother, who is suffering from Alzheimers but is in denial, as well as in her relationship with Duncan, her KDRS compatriot who is handy at repairs, but painfully shy.  The reasons for Duncan's reticence slowly begin to make sense to Chloe as she attempts to befriend him.  His life story provides a dramatic contrast to Chloe’s.  Chloe has her hands full, not only with her grandmother, her two ex-best friends and Duncan, but also with Clem, the head of the radio station, who has a caustic personality and powerfully negative feelings toward Chloe.  All the conflicts come to a head in a “mini series” of climaxes that will please teen readers who want lots of turmoil along with some action. 

This book is Shelley Coriell’s debut novel, and Coriell has proven that she can tell a good story with believable, engaging characters and a solid plot.      Martha Squaresky        Friendship, High School Stories, Radio