EVERY LITTLE BAD IDEA

A sheltered teen encounters first love in this novel in verse for reluctant readers.

Skylar has been warned repeatedly by her single mom: The women in her family have a history of falling for boys who are trouble. Skylar wants nothing more than to fulfill her mother’s dream for her and go to college to become a doctor, or a lawyer, or maybe do something in business. But one night at a party Skylar runs into neighborhood ne’er-do-well Cole Baker. The tall, dark, blue-eyed hottie sweeps Skylar off her feet, and soon she is compromising every value she’s ever held to be in Cole’s embrace. Rebellious teens, overbearing moms, and bad boys with murky pasts are standard fare for the teen market, but the author uses poetic verse to draw the reader into Skylar’s head, creating an immediacy and intimacy that make this short novel compelling and resonant. The ensuing heartbreak is mirrored by the novel’s verse, providing a clever presentation of a familiar topic. The presumably white teens are supported by a cast that is only thinly sketched out save for Skyler’s mother; the mother-daughter relationship is just as important to the novel as the teen romance, and the author smartly compares and contrasts the short relationship between Skylar and Cole with the long-term relationship Skylar has built with her mother.

An appealing choice.