The Year My Life Went Down the Loo

When 16-year-old Emily’s family uproots her from Seattle to England right before her junior year, she has to adjust to a whole new lingo, new friends, and worst of all, no malls. Luckily hunkalicious British boys do exist!

Subject: The Grotty and the Fabu (No, it’s not a song.)From: Mrs.Oded@btelecom.co.ukTo: Dru@seattlegrrl.com

Things That Really Irk My Pickle About Living in England

The school uniform Piddlington-on-the-weld (I will forever be known as Emily from Piddlesville.) Marmite (It’s yeast sludge! GACK!) The ghost in my underwear drawer (Spectral hands fondling my bras — enough said!) No malls! What are these people thinking???Things That Keep Me From Flying Home to Seattle for Good Coffee

Aidan (Hunkalicious!) Devon (Droolworthy? Understatement of the year!) Fang (He puts the num in nummy!) Holly (Any girl who hunts movie stars with me—and Oded Fehr will be mine—is a friend for life.) Über-coolio Polo Club (Where the snogging is FINE!)

Praise For Katie Maxwell

"Gripping, smart-alecky, shocking...and at the same time, tender. A brilliant debut by Katie Maxwell in the Young Adult Forum." - KLIATT

"Fans of The Princess Diaries and other well written teen books will cheer this new entry to the scene." - Huntress Reviews

"Girls will laugh, sigh and squeal aloud as they embark upon Emily's journey." - Romantic Times BOOKClub

From BooklistGr. 10-12. Transplanted from Seattle to an English hamlet called Piddlington-on-the-Weld, 16-year-old Emily Williams braces herself for a year abroad. Life in a country "that still has discos!" really "irks her pickle." No makeup is allowed at school, and the uniforms are "gacky"; at home, a poltergeist haunts her panty drawer, and her parents are generally appalling. Emily vents her frustrations in wickedly funny e-mails to her best friend, spiced with British slang and her own idiosyncratic coinages. Sex is a major theme here (the cartoonish cover belies content that is solidly YA), but despite Emily's air of worldliness, her essential naivete becomes obvious when she falls in with a more experienced crew--for whom drinking and sex are apparently common leisure activities. The plot is utterly formulaic: girl has sleazebag love interest and then boots him for not respecting her personal boundaries. But like her spiritual cousins Georgia and Bridget, appealingly anguished Emily will have girls wanting to embrace her as their uber-coolio new best friend. Three more visits with Emily are in the works. Jennifer MattsonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved