Book 14: Honey, Baby, Sweetheart - By Deb Caletti

This young adult novel was one of the nominees for the National Book Award in that category, and although it's not quite so daring as the winner, Pete Hautman's Godless, it's a nifty little book nonetheless. Targeted far more to the teenage girl demographic, the book centers on a high school girl named Ruby who lives a pretty contented life with her mother and younger brother in a small town called Nine Mile Falls. A little excitement enters her life as she falls for a rich bad boy named Travis, and his effect on her is both exhilarating and deleterious. At the same time, our heroine is coming to know her mother's reading group, and elderly bunch known as the Casserole Queens, and finds that she is able to grow and express herself amidst them as she might never have expected. It's generally a trifle of a book, but I would certainly recommend it as a positive read for teen girls.