Girl At Sea

Reader: Meghan K
Age: 14
Title: Girl At Sea
Author: Maureen Johnson
Publisher: Harper Teen
Pub Date: 2007
Galley: No
Nominate for Teens’ Top 10: No
Recommend: Yes
Did the cover tempt you and/or reflect the contents of the book: I absolutely hate books with covers like this one. When I see the half-faced girl with Boobs of Hugeness, Skin of Eternal Tanning, and Abs of Infinite Sit-Ups I do not think "My! What an intriguing cover! That character looks just like me!" I think, "My, that model looks absolutely nothing like any character in the book! I am questioning the integrity of anyone who would agree that this cover is a good idea." Of course, if the final cover is this bad, I’d hate to see the ones that got canned.
Convince us to read the book: Petty cover complaints aside, I really liked this book. I love Maureen Johnson. She writes exactly the way I think. Her writing style is fun and quirky, and moves along at an excellent pace. This book has a larger, overlying mystery, but also has enough small stuff that reading it is still gratifying and fun.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: Okay, my literary geek, jargon-ridden recommendation wouldn't really convince anybody to read it, ever, but in more plot-y terms, this book has fun characters and lots of stuff going on. The characters seem very real and fun, and I
would like to hang out with any given one of them if only for a day or two.
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal