The New York Times Book Review - Catherine Hong
Barrows captures the highs and lows of her characters' emotional lives with remarkable feeling, revealing how even the most joined-at-the-hip BFFs inevitably have secrets and resentments. Best of all is Charlotte's voice, a hyperactive stream-of-consciousness gush. Spending time with these two is a lovely, low-key pleasure.
Publishers Weekly
06/26/2017
Fifteen-year-old best friends Charlotte and Frankie believe that their lives are hopelessly dull compared to those of the characters in most of the YA literature they read. As if to prove her point, Char decides to write a novel based on their day-to-day existence. Though the girls are certain that the book will be as interesting as watching paint dry, they are surprised to learn that sophomore year can be exciting, if you pay attention. In her first work for teens, Barrows (the Ivy & Bean series) writes a realistic story about girls growing up in a suburban California town: Char and Frankie hang out, sometimes drink or smoke a bit, and think about kissing, growing up, taking chances, and feeling awkward. Their story unfolds through third-person chapters that alternate and overlap with Char’s borderline stream-of-consciousness book project: some readers will love her brash honesty, while others will find it distractingly rambling. And while plenty happens to Barrows’s characters, contrary to their own expectations, the book never exposes much about the secret lives of teenage girls. Ages 14–up. Agent: Liza Dawson, Liza Dawson Associates (Sept.)
From the Publisher
Barrows captures the highs and lows of her characters’ emotional lives with remarkable feeling, revealing how even the most joined-at-the-hip BFFs inevitably have secrets and resentments. ...Spending time with these two is a lovely, low-key pleasure.” — New York Times Book Review
“A charming novel about the daily ups and downs of school, love interests, friends, families, and social media. Barrows turns her keen observational eye toward teenagers, and the results are authentic and funny...Check out this book.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“In her first work for teens, Barrows writes a realistic story about girls growing up in a suburban California town. Char and Frankie hang out...and think about kissing, growing up, taking chances, and feeling awkward. ...readers will love [Charlotte’s] brash honesty.” — Publishers Weekly
“This innocently edgy but ultimately provocative novel...is about nothing and everything. ...Their search for meaning is palpable.” — San Francisco Chronicle
“The ‘Nothing’ girls have more going on than they would like. ...writing down your everyday experiences, whether in book, journal, or some other form can encourage even those people most bored with life to come out of their shell and discover truths that they never saw coming.” — YA Books Central
“Barrows, author of the Ivy + Bean chapter book series, has a knack for female friendships, and Charlotte and Frankie are a memorable pair.” — The Horn Book
San Francisco Chronicle
This innocently edgy but ultimately provocative novel...is about nothing and everything. ...Their search for meaning is palpable.
The Horn Book
Barrows, author of the Ivy + Bean chapter book series, has a knack for female friendships, and Charlotte and Frankie are a memorable pair.
New York Times Book Review
Barrows captures the highs and lows of her characters’ emotional lives with remarkable feeling, revealing how even the most joined-at-the-hip BFFs inevitably have secrets and resentments. ...Spending time with these two is a lovely, low-key pleasure.
YA Books Central
The ‘Nothing’ girls have more going on than they would like. ...writing down your everyday experiences, whether in book, journal, or some other form can encourage even those people most bored with life to come out of their shell and discover truths that they never saw coming.
San Francisco Chronicle
This innocently edgy but ultimately provocative novel...is about nothing and everything. ...Their search for meaning is palpable.
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2017-05-24
Charlotte and Frankie are typical high school sophomores struggling to be interesting in a land of boring. Nothing ever happens to them, so when Charlotte decides to write a book chronicling their lives, she suspects it's going to be pretty tedious. Shopping at the mall, hanging out with friends—this is the stuff of life as a 15-year-old but perhaps not the stuff of great literature. Except…in chronicling her life, Charlotte discovers that perhaps things aren't as boring as they thought. After all, the two white teens get to host their own New Year's Eve fancy dinner (even if it is attended by only the two of them), and they even embark on an epic road trip that might just lead to a longer adventure. The result is a charming novel about the daily ups and downs of school, love interests, friends, families, and social media. Barrows turns her keen observational eye toward teenagers, and the results are authentic and funny, filled with highly recognizable moments of teen angst and earned epiphanies. A moment in English class when some students of color question negative representation to their martinet of a teacher shines. Her characters—both teens and adults—are endowed with smart, realistic (and realistically foulmouthed) dialogue, and the problems they encounter both are believable and feel like glimpses into lives beyond the written page. Anyone who suspects their life is the most boring ever? Check out this book. (Fiction. 14-18)
