CHICK LIT with attitude
Chick Lit is often defined as pop romance or themes that only appeal to young women.
Which is very limiting if you think about it for a moment. Women come in all sizes, shapes, nationalities and experiences, so why would this mean that their choices in fiction would be solely surrounding shopping and romance. The short answer is chick lit is not that simply defined. The five young women who offered to help me with this project are as follows:
Winnie
Coco
Journey
Emory
Jess
*Each girl was given a release form that had to be filled out and presented by a parent or a guardian and their names have been changed to protect their privacy.
Poser by Sue Wyshynski
Bloomsbury Teens Books| ISBN: 978082720634| 259 pages
Jess: "Tallulah is the new girl and everybody thinks she is some surfer chick form Florida and she plays along until they fond out its all a lie. Then she has to start from scratch at the bottom of the totem pole. She goes from big somebody to bigger nobody. The bullying is hard to read about but, Tallulah keeps coming back for more and she does something that turns the tables, totally. I won't spoil it but it is awesome. The sporty girl in me loved all the surfing and swimming."
Malibu Carmie by Leah Komaiko
Random House| ISBN: 9780385902090| 249 pages
Jess: "You think you know your parents, but you don't. They had lives we kids know nothing about, Carmie finds this out after a day at the beach with her mom. Then suddenly nothing is ever the same again. I like the way that Carmie writes in her journal like it is some big movie script and I love the humor and the surfing is always a plus, too!"
Summer and the City by Candace Bushnell
Epic Reads| ISBN: 9780061728938| 409 pages
Emory: "I read the first book in this series, The Carrie Diaries last summer. So when I saw this one lying there on the table I knew it was mine to read and I grabbed it first. This is a look at Carrie's first stab at writing and her first real adventures in NYC. I loved this book and cannot wait to read more about Carrie and her friends int he Big Apple"
Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen
Viking Press| ISBN: 9780670010662| 422pages
Journey chose Sarah Dessen's Lock and Key and this is what she had to say about it, "At first I thought it was going to be another girly book about life in the mall, but I was so wrong. This book is a chick lit that sure feels more like real life. The main character Ruby, really has to deal with some hard things. I could not put this book down."
COCO: Loved the idea of books written in chat lingo she chose Lauren Myracle's L8r, g8r and bff a girlfriend book u write 2gether
"I guess what I liked the best was how it used language in a different sort of a way to tell these little stories within the bigger story. It was just like when I talk to my friends on my iPhone. The thing I liked the least was that it was a little outdated. I mean really emoticons are so my grandma."
bff a girlfriend book u write 2gether
by Lauren Myracle
Amulet Books| ISBN: 9780810984318| 251 pages
L8r, G8r
by Lauren Myracle
Amulet Books| ISBN: 9780810912663| 274 pages
The Internet Girls series follows three friends as they trek their way through high school. All the ups and all the downs and all the fun of BFFs, OMG, ROFL and more.
See Jane Write: A Girl's Guide to Writing Chick Lit by Sarah Mlynowski & Farrin Jacobs
Quirk Books| ISBN: 9781594741159| 190 pages
This is a fun book filled with tips for writing your very first Chick Lit novel. Lots of anecdotes, advice and lots of cool charts and pictures to help motivate and hold interest. Winnie gives this 2 thumbs up!
WINNIE- Immediately gravitated to See Jane Write: A girl’s Guide to Writing Chick Lit by Sarah Mlynowski
and Farrin Jacobs. “It was fun, funny and I felt like they were just
talking to me. The comics were nifty and yea, I pretty much feel like I could
write a chick book now.” Winnie said she had always seen herself as
either becoming a librarian or a writer and after these two she really wants to
visit chick lit again. The two things she liked were that the books were fun to read and easy. The two things she did not like were that she found herself wanting a little more depth of plot and more complex characters.
Flirting with Pride & Prejudice: Fresh Perspectives on the Original Chick Lit by Jennifer Cruise
Benbella Books| ISBN: 9781932100723| 230 pages
Winnie: "I loved this book its so smart and grown up and interesting. If you are not sure if you want to be a writer or a librarian then read this book, you will totally wan tot be a writer. I get this book!" The two things she liked were that it was all these articles by all these other authors were amazing. The things she did not like was that it felt too much like homework.
