Who’s That Girl is a young adult romantic comedy that will appeal to many. The main character is Natalie McCullough-Schwartz, who flies under the radar in her prep school in the suburbs of Philadelphia. She is smart (great at Latin,) and surrounds herself with other smart and quirky people. Her parents are delightful on the page, and her friends are interesting and well-drawn. She’s part of the Acronymphomaniacs—a group that enjoys acronyms—and it’s a good thing they do, because the acronym for their gay-straight alliance is OWPALGBTQIA. The principal members of the group are Nattie, Tess Kozlowski, Tall Zach, and Zach the Anarchist (who, of course, isn’t an anarchist at all.)
What’s refreshing about this book is that the main character, though a junior, has only had two almost-kisses in her life. The cast of characters is sweet and somewhat naive and they do well in school, and I’d love to see more books with characters like this. Of course, Nattie’s world changes when Sebastian Delacroix, an attractive and cool graduate who Nattie almost kissed, writes a song called Natalie that begins to get a bunch of airplay.
Nattie doesn’t know what to make of it. He texts her at times, but is always mysterious. She pushes herself out of her comfort zone by going to rock shows in an attempt to figure out what Sebastian actually wants from her, while at the same time trying to maintain her commitments to OWPALGBTQIA and her friends.
The book is full of insider language and great moments of humor, and puts the reader right there with Nattie. While intended for high school aged readers and young adults, it’s safe enough for sophisticated middle schoolers to read, I’d wager.
There’s also a yurt.
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