Amazon.com Review
Change is not a concept that eighth grader Jack Jordan is eager to embrace. First, there's the little matter of his dad moving out and taking up with some unknown woman named Melissa. Then, his formerly easy relationship with his best friend, Chris, becomes complicated when he begins to notice that besides being a really great athlete, she also has some really great legs. What's worse, he's not the only one to make this observation. Most of the guys in his class, especially popular Kyle Baskin, are beginning to take note of Chris's new attributes as well. Suddenly, Jack is feeling jealous, angry, and so mixed-up he doesn't know what to do or who to blame. It will take a misguided kiss at a country club cotillion to make Jack realize that a solid friendship is often worth more than a passing romance. And a showdown with his father will reveal that the mysterious Melissa is actually just a family therapist, trying to get his parents back together.
Funny and smartly written, And Sometimes Why cleverly captures the all-too-familiar havoc hormones can wreak on perfectly good friendships. Chris sums up Jack's confusion neatly when she tells him, "You only kissed me... because of Sam. And because of Kyle. You thought that if they wanted to kiss me, then you should probably want to kiss me, too." Jaded adolescent readers familiar with the traditional "romance always follows friendship" cliché foisted on them by teen-marketed media will find author Mame Farrell's conclusion that sometimes friendship itself is enough refreshingly different. (Ages 12 and older) --Jennifer Hubert
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Hormones threaten the best of friends in Farrell's (Marrying Malcolm Murgatroyd; Bradley and the Billboard) take on the duckling-turned-swan story. Soon-to-be high school freshmen Jack and Chris have been inseparable since first grade. But almost overnight Chris turns into a beauty and starts turning the heads of the hunks at the country club. So much change leaves Jack baffled is he jealous of Chris or of the guys whose attentions she repays? Proving the strength of Chris and Jack's friendship, Farrell includes a scene in which Jack braves a potentially humiliating trip to the drugstore to buy Chris's first tampons, then dilutes the effect by having Chris explain menstruation to Jack in a conversation that seems straight out of sex-ed class. Familiar plot elements include Jack's fascination and eventual disillusionment with the in-crowd; Jack having dates with two girls (Chris and another) for the country club cotillion; and his obviously false conclusions about a woman's phone number found in the jacket belonging to his currently separated dad. Jack's confusion may be realistic, but his clumsiness is likely to frustrate and distance readers. Ironically, for all of Chris's explicit criticism of stories "where the wallflower magically blooms into a prom queen and gets the guy in the end," the author casts Chris in very nearly that role. Ultimately, Jack's reactions don't approach the inherent appeal of this tried-and-true story line, however much Farrell critiques it. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
