Publishers Weekly
The S.A.S.S. (Students Across the Seven Seas) series kicked off with Westminster Abby by Micol Ostow ("Teenage girls, especially those with a penchant for travel, will find this a light yet flavorful morsel," PW said), and now 17-year-old Nicole heads to the City of Light for Pardon My French by Cathy Hapka. But alors, Paree does not seem so gay when she must leave behind her heartthrob Nate... until a debonaire Frenchman comes along. Also due this month: Spain or Shine by Michelle Jellen. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
School Library Journal
Gr 8 Up-After spending most of her childhood moving from town to town, Nicole is glad to be settled in one place to finish high school. When she starts daydreaming about marrying her boyfriend after graduation, her parents decide that she needs to broaden her horizons. They sign her up for the "Students Across the Seven Seas" program, and soon she is unhappily headed for Paris where she will attend school and live with an American family. Despite her negative attitude, she makes friends with the other exchange students and her host family's French nanny. As a new culture and new experiences make Nicole more mature and confident, she begins to realize that her decisions about her boyfriend and to belong to the in-crowd are limiting her potential. Nicole starts out as shallow and slightly unlikable, but does show some real growth as the story progresses. This addition to the series is a respectable entry in the teen chick-lit genre, but it moves a bit slowly.-Stephanie L. Petruso, Anne Arundel County Public Library, Odenton, MD Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
