Heart on My Sleeve

Ellen Wittlinger, author of the Printz Honor Book Hard Love, mines the turbulence of young adulthood in this modern-day epistolary novel (think smiley-face emoticons and IMs) that examines the weird summer between high school and college. The story begins when 18-year-old, Boston-born, singer-songwriter Chloe visits a college in Connecticut as a prospective student and meets the dreamy singer-actor Julian from Florida. Both primed to say good-bye to high school and hello to the rest of their lives, the two share an intense, somewhat smooch-filled weekend that blossoms into an online romance. Inconveniently, Chloe already has a boyfriend. And both of them have prom, graduation, and summer jobs to contend with. A bouquet of ill-timed roses exposes Chloe’s secret tryst and wrecks prom, but the revelations don’t stop here. Chloe’s sister Genevieve comes out as a lesbian via e-mail and Julian’s sister e-announces her Las Vegas wedding to a man no one has met. The reaction of Chloe’s parents to Gen’s coming out is both comical and wince-inducing. (If she grew her hair long again would her heterosexuality be saved?) But, with the help of a few instructional books, everyone comes around in the end.

While typical teen confusion runs rampant, Wittlinger’s characters are intelligent and considerate--always following honest outbursts with heartfelt apologies. Despite the large cast of characters shooting off e-mails, IMs, letters, and postcards--all depicted with distinct fonts or handwriting--the novel manages to be cohesive and effectively multi-layered. Cleverly, Chloe’s subject heads are lines from songs by Dar Williams, Greg Brown, John Prine, the Indigo Girls, and more, and a "playlist" is included in the back. (Ages 13 and older) --Karin Snelson