Infinite in Between by Carolyn Mackler

2015, HarperTeen

They are all beginning to converge on one of the most important days of their lives.  The month: September.  The place: high school in the small town of Hankinson.  The event: freshmen orientation...

Gregor is the quiet one.  He has a close-knit family and an older sister in high school who dispenses advice which may or may not be the best (you know how siblings are).  His best friend Dinky, whose nickname suits him, carries the excitement for both of them.  And although Gregor isn't enthused, he knows this is the day which will usher in the next four crucial years.

Zoe left beautiful Los Angeles to live with her aunt in Hankinson, New York.  Totally out of her realm, Zoe must make the best of it while her famous actress mother goes through yet another stint in rehab.  She knows nothing about her aunt, except the sisters don't get along, and she isn't told why. She's not looking forward to going to freshmen orientation, especially since everyone's seen the infamous video of her and her mother....

Jake has mixed feelings as well about becoming a high-schooler, especially after what happened last year.  His best friend Ted has moved on from him and is the guy all girls want to date - handsome, athletic, popular.  The problem is, Jake let him know how he felt about him and it changed not only their friendship, but his status in school.  Now, the game is to avoid his ex-best friend as much as possible during the next four years.

Whitney bounces and glows wherever she is.  Beautiful and popular, she makes friends easily, is involved in all kinds of clubs, and dates guys beyond their freshmen year.  The thing is, Whitney doesn't condone bad behavior, especially when her friends are being horrendously rude and because of her morals, she begins to be excluded from things.  Four years of icy shoulders is a long time, but can her sunny disposition melt the ice?

Mia dresses in black, wears her hair and make-up dark, and doesn't say much.  She is the anti-establishment of her parents and their country club tennis looks and isn't going to change.  Four years ahead of her is going to be a long journey, but she's ready for it because she has her endgame in mind- to leave this town as fast as possible.

All five of these teens are thrown together during orientation and are tasked with coming up with a "bonding" project to get to know each other more.  They don't run in the same circles, so they come up with the only solution they agree on.  Write a letter to their future selves and meet up on graduation day to read them.

And the next four years of their lives begin...

And this is where the reader gets to be the fly on the wall as we watch all five teens change and evolve physically, morally and emotionally.  There are turns in the roads for all of them in their personal and school lives. Their lives even weave and intersect at times in very interesting ways. What makes this novel so appealing is the reader will be able to see themselves or those they know in any of the characters and which makes this book become personal...the ultimate nod of an excellent YA novel.  As I posted on Twitter, this novel is  part Breakfast Club, part St. Elmo's fire, part New Year's Eve.  LOVED it!!

Throwback Thursday (book review): Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler, ill. by Maira Kalman

Little Brown, 2011
Min is mad, but more than that, her heart is broken...

Min doesn't have a lot of friends, but the ones she does have are loyal and close, with Al being her closest friend.  Between him and the avant-garde movies she loves, her life is really good.  Until Ed Slaterton showed up....

She was "arty;" he was an athlete.  She had a free-spirit; his was defined by his friends.  Min was under the radar; Ed was the one girls wanted to be with and guys wanted to hang with.  Her lifestyle was nostalgic; his was trendy.  Both of them showed each other a new world.

It was a complete accident, their meeting.  She searched for him, he handed her a beer (which Min poured out discreetly).  They talked that night and soon, this led to another meeting, then another...and then they became a couple. 

And everyone wondered why they were together.  But Ed knew, with all of his heart, that Min was different and he loved the fact that she wasn't just another pretty face.  Min was secretly, than openly, thrilled about being Ed Slaterton's girlfriend, even if it meant she had to sacrifice some things, including her favorite coffee shop.


But today, she wants no part of Ed.  Nothing about him in her life is the cleansing she needs.  So she takes everything they ever shared, including a:
pinhole camera
toy truck
plant pod

oily kitchen towel....and so much, so many more.


They go in a box, along with her story of why they broke up. 

The premise of this book is simple.  Each chapter contains an item and the story that goes along with it in chronological order.  Told from Min's point of view, the reader becomes entangled in her story and the curiosity quotient is raised of how, not especially why, Min broke up with him.  But this book is unique in another very different way.  Daniel Handler writes with dangling participles galore.  It will take a reader to fine tune the voice in their head to follow the pattern his writing takes on, including the ever important comma pauses he uses.  It is also because of his stylized writing that Min's character truly comes out, filled with emotion and packed with meaning.  Handler also creates the town Min lives in and the world of film she loves, not with the branded names of coffee houses, Hollywood, and music, but with care, choosing imaginative names to convey the feeling each name evokes. 

Simple book, intricate writing....two very different styles that compliment and run alongside the two main characters in this book that reflect Handler's writing.  Interspersed throughout are deft, well-spaced illustrations of each item Min discards.  Recommended for high school (9-12).

Sidenote: it has been a long time since I've read a book that was actually sewn.  Also, this is a heavy book (literally, not figuratively) with glossy thick pages.  Not your typical YA book, and one that definitely stands out.