Before she made a name for herself as a New York City sex columnist, Carrie Bradshaw lived in a small Connecticut town and navigated the perils of high school, the events of which she narrates here in the present tense. She dates the new bad boy, Sebastian Kydd, but his reputation as the school Lothario drives a wedge between Carrie and her best friend. At home with her father and two younger sisters, Carrie mourns her dead mother, a declared feminist with a passion for fashion. Whether she faces the wrath of the most popular girl in school or the decision to have sex with Sebastian, Carrie handles her stumbles with courage and wit. Academically, she’s got Ivy League brains and a talent for math, but her dream is to become a writer, and thus does Bushnell set up Carrie’s future. Teen fans of Sex and the City will easily recognize the Carrie they already know and love, but this book can stand alone. Yes, the sex, drugs and drinking will titillate, but Carrie’s sharp observations of her peers and human relationships give the book smart, sassy intellectual power. (Fiction. 14 & up)
