BOY PROOF

This character study of a rebellious Los Angeles teen has enough quirky features taken from sci-fi fantasy to keep reluctant readers interested. Victoria Jurgen devotes herself to science fiction and has retreated from society. She refuses to answer to her name, instead calling herself “Egg,” after a character in her favorite sci-fi movie. Her major goals are to become valedictorian of her high school and to be eccentric. Egg reluctantly finds herself attracted to Max, a new boy in her school, but she’s so devoted to her own separateness that, although she befriends him, she refuses to respond to his approaches. When Max gets involved with a girl she dislikes, however, Egg becomes jealous. Then her grades slip, and she meets and dislikes her favorite actress, which helps to repel her from her former obsessions and solitude. It’s an unusual, successful, appealing effort from first-time novelist Castellucci. (Fiction. YA)