FRESHMAN FOR PRESIDENT

The principal of 15-year-old Milo Wright’s high school in Sage, Ariz., has decided to do away with student council elections. Milo had been planning to run for president, but what’ll he do now? Why, run for president of the United States, of course. He knows he’s 20 years too young to take office, but he can draw attention to such teen issues as excessive standardized testing and the raising of the driving age to 18. With donations from local businesses and a great website, the campaign catches national attention. Though Milo and his VP candidate Eden have a busy and sometimes rough year, they learn valuable lessons about themselves and the concept of winning. Condie, who has published two novels about Mormon teens under the name Allyson B. Condie, starts with an interesting premise. Milo aside, the characters don’t develop much beyond one dimension, however. The text is repetitious and larded with unnecessary scenes, and the pacing is truly glacial. Could be useful for integrating civics and language arts, but not much else. (Fiction. 11-14)