MY LIFE FROM AIR-BRAS TO ZITS

Waking up on the first day of tenth grade with a monster forehead zit seemed like an omen to 14-year-old Teresa, but even she couldn’t have guessed just how complicated her year would become. Opening with “a is for Angst,” Teresa leads readers chapter by chapter through the alphabet, introducing hilarious mishaps with condiments (aka condoms), intimate moments with her large and zany extended family and her life-changing transformation from “normal” to “above normal” in her high school’s hierarchy, which she quickly realizes means lots of tradeoffs. Infusing sincerity and humor throughout are lists (“Kissing Procedure (Mostly Theoretical)”), e-mail texts (“Subject: I HAVE PROOF GOD IS SO NOT A WOMAN”), funky definitions (“Transference. Deflect your anger to your younger siblings”) and silly jokes (“First Reaction: Eewww. Second Reaction: Snicker”), making this narrative read like a peek into Teresa’s diary. Although laugh-packed, the heart of this endearing, but definitely not sappy, novel is Teresa’s evolving family relationships, which challenge her to grow up quickly. (Fiction. YA)