Bookverdict.com

Gr 9-Up There have been lots of changes for Francesca as she starts Year Eleven at St. Sebastian's, a formerly all-boys school that has grudgingly admitted 30 coeds. She misses her old friends, but mostly she misses her mother, a strong vocal communications lecturer at the University of Technology, Sydney, who has slipped into a severe depression and can't get out of bed. Francesca is also facing challenges at school. Suddenly, she's hanging out with new friends, girls who were so uncool at St. Stella's, and it's impossible to tal...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Australian author Marchetta proves her craft in this fresh, funny, and heartfelt portrait of a teenage girl coping with her mother's acute depression as well as with a new school. Francesca is a bit relieved the first day her mother stays in bed—no 6:45 a.m. motivational song; no note on the mirror challenging her to do something that scares her—but things begin to fall apart as the force of Mia's illness hits her family. Still, Franc...Log In or Sign Up to Read More