Blue Plate Special

by Michelle D. Kwasney

This novel for young adults tells the tales of 3 teen girls:

• Madeline: In 1977, she is fat and lonely and saddled with an alcoholic mother;

• Desiree: In 1993, she is hot and in love and saddled with a fat, drug addict for a mother; and

• Ariel: In 2009, she’s healthy and happy with a caring mother, a father in prison, and a very intense boyfriend.

What the reader quickly realizes is that she’s reading about 3 generations of the same family and how each teen deals with, pardon my language, the plate of crap she’s been served.

I found the girls and their stories to be compelling, and I think this novel goes just a little deeper than your average YA novel.

5/27/10