FINISHED:

Hautman, Pete. (2009). How to steal a car. New York: Scholastic.

[Review to come...

One evening while hanging out at the mall with her best friend, Kelleigh witnesses a gentleman unknowingly drop the keys to his car and, on a bored whim, Kelleigh picks them up and decides to go for a joyride. Without guilt, remorse, or malicious intent, Kelleigh ends up taking more cars around the block for a spin and, eventually, even decides to help a schoolmate car thief. What makes this all so confounding is that Kelleigh is really a good girl with good grades, typical boy problems, and whose family eats at the dinner table together every night, thus begging the question, “Well, why does she decide to start stealing cars?” The novel also brings up intriguing questions of moral right and wrong when we discover that Kelleigh’s father, a lawyer, is defending a likely rapist with a less than airtight alibi, as well as depicting the process of growing up and learning the realities of adulthood: mainly, that adults are capable of fault and often make bad decisions themselves. Clocking in at a brisk 176 pages, this would be a strong choice to hand to a reluctant female high school reader. (Reviewed from ARC)]

STARTED:
Lieb, Josh. (2009). I am a genius of unspeakable evil and I want to be your class president. New York: Razorbill/Penguin.

[Reviewing for ACL.]

*