ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, I’M NOW THE GIRLFRIEND OF A SEX GOD

Readers were first introduced to Georgia’s diary in Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging (A Printz Honor, 2001, not reviewed). Her saga continues here as her mother announces that Georgia’s father has found work in New Zealand and they’ll be moving in a week. While Georgia tries to make her mother realize that she’ll have to be left behind, further disaster strikes: her new boyfriend the SG (Sex God) decides he’s too old for her and suggests she might try his younger brother’s friend Harry. Thus is launched Operation Elastic Band, in which Harry the Laugh becomes the red-herring with which she’ll win back the SG. And does she? Readers will fall right in step with Georgia’s up-and-down 14-year-old monologue. “I didn’t take any chances with the nipple department; I wore a bra and a vest. Let them get out of that if they could. I must be calm. Om. Om. OhmyGodohmyGodohmyGod.” The glossary at the end will help with the British slang, though most of it is understandable from context. Readers don’t need to have read the first book to be caught right up in the engaging melodrama, but they’ll probably want to read it after they’ve finished this one. It ends, as did its predecessor, abruptly and on a leading tone, suggesting a third. This fun romp will give young-teenage readers someone to laugh at and cheer for, and should make adults cry for joy . . . at not being 14 anymore. (Fiction. 12-15)