Crane, Caprice. Confessions of a Hater.

Crane, Caprice.  Confessions of a Hater.  Macmillan/Feiwel & Friends      2013  358p      $17.99  ISBN 978-1-250-00846-6  ms/hs Realistic fiction  VG-BN

Hailey Harper ranks high on invisibility.  But she has a plan to change that: a journal belonging to her popular older sister full of information Hailey will use to reinvent herself at her new high school.  Caprice Crane addresses high school issues from bullying to divorce, to pregnancy and drug addiction, showing that everyone in attendance is dealing with problems of some sort.  Her humorous approach permits the characters to teach readers without much “preaching.”  Atypically (and early on) Hailey decides that popularity isn’t for her and creates her own clique, the “Invisibles.” Crane’s on-target observations about high school will leave teens thinking and talking!        

Summary: Hailey thinks she’s found the inside track to popularity and she is putting her plan to the test in her new school.

High school-Fiction, Popularity-Fiction                     --Hilary Welliver

Crane, Dede. Poster Boy.

Crane, Dede. Poster Boy.
Groundwood see Douglas McIntyre 2009 214p 17.95 978-0-88899-855-2 hs Gray hangs out with his friends, thinks about losing his virginity, and finds his younger sister irritating. Then he learns that she is in the last stage of cancer, and everything in his life changes -- the family dynamic, his interests, his friendships. Gray learns about causes of cancer, and he becomes interested in the environment as a result. The story pulls the reader in, as we see Gray develop as a character and a young adult. Caution--Gray and his friends regularly get high, think about losing their virginity, and use swear words. The language is crude at times, reflecting how young people actually talk. There were a few surprising typos. An example on page 210 “lifting two eggs from its grassy nest (its” instead of “their”). The strongest element of the story is the characters and how they cope with stress, and change. This is a good realistic novel that is clearly aimed at pulling in reluctant male readers. Kennedy, Carol