Author: Alex Gino

Year: 2015

Dewey. SPF GINg

Melissa likes girly magazines. Every time she looks at the photographs in the glossy pages, she imagines herself in the scene. She sees herself wearing nice, fashionable clothes and talking relaxedly with her girlfriends. Collecting these magazines wherever she can find them has become an obsession, and sifting through the pages, an escape route to real life.

In real life she goes to school, has only one friend (Kelly), and gets harrassed on a daily basis by Jeff and Rick, the class bullies. But all this could change if only she got the lead role in the school’s theatrical version of Charlotte’s Web. If only she got to play Charlotte -the wise spider- she is certain she could show the world (schoolmates, family and teachers) who she really is. The only problem is that her teacher, Ms. Udell, refuses to cast her in the role because Charlotte is a girl’s character, and as far as she (and everybody else) knows, Melissa is a boy, and her name is George.

Annabelle says her life started to change (not for the best) the year she learnt how to lie. This is not entirely accurate. Yes, this is the story of a teenage girl learning that she can control and manipulate what she tells people for a desired effect. But that is not news. All teenagers learn to fib, almost like a rite of passage, and the moment we realise how unnecessary fibbing is, is also a hallmark, or at least part of the good stuff, of growing up.

But Annabelle’s problems are not really her lies. She has a reason for lying: Betty Glengarry. Betty is a bully, but not a classic one. What’s unsettling about this novel is Betty herself. She is too evil, truly evil, and there is nothing we as readers can think of to justify her behaviour. This book is not a thriller, in fact, this is not Betty’s story, but Annabelle’s. Yet Betty’s actions make us ask a lot of questions about the role -and power- of fourteen year olds.

Not yet adults, but definitely not children anymore, how do we judge crimes committed by teenagers? On the other hand, we don’t judge teenagers as adults because their brains are still developing, which makes them more susceptible, easier to groom, coerce, or even, sadly, abuse. Annabelle is still too young to understand these things, but she feels them instinctively.

In a way, Betty’s story forces Annabelle to grow up, yet the sad thing about this novel is we never manage to figure out why Betty is who she is. Annabelle makes up her own mind about this, but I, being a little older, cannot fully agree with her.

This is not a book for a younger audience. It is easy to read, and a lot happens quite fast, so you never get bored. But it is one of those books that leaves you wondering about lots of things, including, but not exclusive to those discussed above. Therefore, it is an older audience (advanced 7th graders and up, adults too) who will get the most out of this beautiful and unsettling novel.