EASY

Add this one to the recent influx of titles about relationships between teenaged girls and older men. Jessica is 14, and frustrated with the turn her once stable home life has taken due to her parents’ divorce. Typical for the age, Jessica is boy-crazy and aware of her blossoming sexuality. Against her best friend’s advice, she begins to use sex as a way to gain the attention she feels she lacks, and soon starts to earn a reputation for being easy. She begins to feel uncomfortable, however, when she goes too far with an older man to whom she’s lied about her age. Only then does Jessica wisely begin to use her talent for photography to deal with her emotions. Teen girls may be drawn in by the scintillating plot, but Jessica’s petulance is tiresome. She takes her friend’s unconditional support for granted and dismisses the encouragement of her art teacher, focusing instead on her parents’ inattentiveness. Although teen promiscuity is certainly a worthy topic, other titles (R.A. Nelson’s Teach Me and Lesléa Newman’s Jailbait, both 2005) tackle the subject more convincingly. (Fiction. YA)