The Implosion of Aggie Winchester

June 6, 2011
One of Zielin's strengths as a writer is that she really "gets" teens: their voices, angst, and insecurities. Another is that she's not afraid to throw her protagonists into no-win situations and watch them claw their way out. Aggie Winchester, a junior and self-professed goth, thoroughly resents her motherâwho is also the principal of Aggie's high school, which fuels her rebellious, self-destructive behavior. But then Aggie's best friend, Sylvia, gets pregnant and is nominated for prom queen, an old boyfriend rears his gorgeous but devious head, and Aggie discovers that her mother has breast cancer. Though Aggie is not always a lovable main character, Zielin (Donut Days) keeps her real and honest. As Aggie heads ever deeper into the hole she's dug for herself, she grapples with some tough choices. Should she have sex with her old boyfriend to get him back? Should she rat on Sylvia, who may have rigged the prom queen election? How can she make her mother actually listen to her? For teens confronting similar questions, Aggie's realistically bumpy journey will be welcome, timely, and thoroughly satisfying. Ages 14âup.

July 1, 2011

Teen melodrama that absolutely oozes angst.

Aggie Winchester, a junior at rural St. Davis High, is one of precisely two goth girls in her entire community. She and her best friend Sylvia spend their time skipping school, collecting piercings and getting into trouble with boys who are no good for them—boys who only want to see them in the dark, preferably in bed, and who will blatantly ignore them in the light of day. Then, on the same day, Sylvia discovers she's pregnant and Aggie learns that her mother, also her school principal, has breast cancer. Aggie and her mother have been on the outs since Aggie's freshman year, when she earned permanent pariah status simply for being the principal's daughter. How will the cancer affect their stagnant relationship? Will Sylvia's pregnancy teach her about love and responsibility? These pressing questions aren't abandoned entirely, but here the novel inexplicably veers off into much more pedestrian territory while maintaining its off-the-charts melodramatic pitch. Suddenly, pregnant goth Sylvia has become a contender for prom queen, but has someone rigged the elections? Is it Sylvia? Is it Aggie's mom? Is it Sylvia's new best friend Beth? At this point, readers may not care.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

January 1, 2012

Gr 9 Up-Just as an implosion collapses inward, so does Aggie Winchester's life. Since being blamed for something she did not do her freshman year, the teen has been an outsider. It doesn't help that her mother is the principal and that Aggie is a Goth-in appearance at least. For her it's camouflage, a way of bonding with her best friend, Sylvia, and a means to hide from everyone else. The facade has worked until the spring of her junior year. All her classmates seem to care about is the junior prom and who will be named the prom king and queen. Aggie, however, has other things on her mind: she wonders whether her ex-boyfriend really wants to get back together or just wants sex, worries about Sylvia's pregnancy by a popular boy, and is scared about her mother's breast cancer. When Sylvia is nominated for prom court, what starts as a prank becomes a downhill slide for her and a wake-up call for Aggie. Although the protagonist goes through a really rough time, she comes out on the other side a stronger person who has figured out who she wants to be and who her true friends are. The main teen characters are fairly realistic, but the language is a bit crude. This title will interest fans of Sarah Dessen and Sara Zarr.-Suanne Roush, Osceola High School, Seminole, FL

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2011
Grades 8-11 Sixteen-year-old Aggie Winchester has been on the fringes of high-school society since ninth grade, when she was unfairly accused by one of the popular set. But with one good friend and a heavy layer of goth makeup, she feels ready for her junior year. Then her mother, who is also her high-school principal, is diagnosed with cancer; her best friend gets pregnant and is nominated for homecoming queen as a joke; and Aggie falls in love with bass fishing. Can things get any more complicated? This ambitious novel tackles lots of pressing issues besides cancer and teen pregnancy: personal identity, the responsibilities of friendship, high-school political scandal, and even a little light romance. Unfortunately, because the story is so busy, not everything receives enough attention (like the short shrift given to the cancer subplot). Zielin is a skillful narrator. A narrower focus would have helped her punch up some flat characters and a nice but predictable ending.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2012
High school junior Aggie is caught between her mother (the school principal) and her pregnant friend who's vying for prom queen. Aggie embarks on the classic YA quest to sort out who she seems to be from who she really is. The mother-daughter conflict is overwrought, and Aggie's boy-related naiveti is hard to buy. Nevertheless, snappy dialogue keeps things moving at a good clip.

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)