Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen

CITATION: Dessen, Sarah. (2000). Keeping the moon. New York: Puffin Books.
IDENTIFYING #: ISBN 0670885495

CLASSIFICATION: FICTION

GENRE: REALISTIC FICTION

CALL#: FIC DESSEN
RECOMMENDED AGE/INTEREST LEVEL: YOUNG ADULT
RATING: 4

Annotation: With her "fat girl" title recently replaced by "slut", 15 and friendless, Nicole "Colie" Sparks, sets off for a dreaded summer with a kooky aunt she barely knows, finding unexpected friendships, self-knowledge--and maybe even love-- in a small, North Carolina beach town.

Summary: Thanks to her fitness guru mother, Colie has lost 45 pounds. Although her exterior "fat girl" image has been transformed, Colie's self-image has yet to catch up, and people who knew her as she was won't let her forget that she will never truly "belong". When Colie's formerly obese, and now wildly successful fit "it" girl mother gets a chance to promote her program in a worldwide tour, Colie is shipped off to her oddball Aunt Mira's for the summer. When Aunt Mira sends Colie to the Last Chance Bar and Grill on a run for her favorite Chicken Caesar Salad, the errand leads Colie to a summer job and her first friend, Morgan, an overly dramatic waitress. Morgan takes to Colie right away, but Morgan's roomate, longtime best friend, and fellow waitress, the beautiful Isabel, is rude and critical, and openly hostile to Colie. What Colie doesn't know is that she and Isabel have something in common, and that Isabel has something to teach her.

Notes: Teen girls will relate to the "mean girl" syndrome, rumors, gossip,"reputations" and issues with self-acceptance, and self-confidence.