Review: Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison

Title: Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson

Author: Louise Rennison

Publication: June, 1999

My Summary:  Georgia Nicolson is trying to navigate her world.  She has a 3-year-old sister who she loves, but who also embarrasses her regularly.  Her parents are unreasonable and inconsiderate according to her.  They don't even let her do perfectly reasonable things like dye her hair blond.  Georgia's mom won't even let her borrow anything just because she says Georgia always loses things.  Then there are also the boy situations to think about.  She and her friends are stuck trying to figure out how to interpret the actions of the boys they like.  For instance, what does "See you later" mean?

My Thoughts:  This book is a hilarious book.  I enjoyed reading something so light.  I love that the author anticipated the fact that American readers might not understand British slang so she included a glossary.  The definitions in the glossary are really funny.  This book is like a mix of Are You There God, It's Me Margaret and Bridget Jones' Diary.  It reminds me of Margaret in the way that Georgia obsesses over her looks and talks frequently about how to make her breasts bigger.  It called to mind "we must, we must, we must increase our bust" from Are You There God, It's Me Margaret.  The obsessive worrying about whether a boy is noticing her and the hilarious blunders that Georgia makes are what remind me of Bridget Jones' Diary.  Georgia is a very likable character and I am glad that I spent some time with her.

This book is a nice quick read and many students will enjoy the diary entry format of the book.  For the way I am sure teens relate to this book, I can understand its Printz honor as well.  I will certainly be looking for the sequel to be able to read more of the adventures of Georgia Nicolson.

I give this book 3 stars (actually it is more like 3.5 for me)