serafina67 *urgently requires life* (Hardcover)

by Susie Day (Author)
Key Phrases: nosy man, Susie Day, Crazy Pete, The Incident (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Serafina doesn't have a boyfriend, doesn't have a best friend, and her parents fight all the time. But she does have a shiny new laptop (a present from her guilt-ridden and therefore overly-generous dad). And with the shiny new laptop, comes a shiny new identity: serafina67, blogging (and kissing) addict.

But in a year when the secrets turn serious, and friends and parents might not be what they seem, is spilling your whole life on the Internet such a bright idea? It might just lead to tears, trouble, hilarious online adventures and a fresh new take on writing - a novel told as a blog.

About the Author
SUSIE DAY always wanted to be a writer. At the age of 8 she co-wrote a radio play entitled ‘Paperback Writer’, based on the Beatles’ song, and inexplicably about a racehorse that really wanted to win the Grand National. Susie’s first book, Whump!…in which Bill falls 632 miles down a manhole, won the BBC Children’s Fiction Prize. She lives in Oxford, UK.

Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic Press (August 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0545073308
• ISBN-13: 978-0545073301
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #282,315 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, July 13, 2008

By	TeensReadToo.com "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

Susie Day's SERAFINA67 *URGENTLY REQUIRES LIFE* is a hilarious and intimate peek about being a British teenage girl, which besides the weird slang is strikingly familiar to being an American teen. It takes place over approximately four months and is entirely composed of Serafina67's blog and accompanying comments. (Note: There is a glossary in the back with definitions to weird English slang. Don't be like me and discover it after you've finished reading.)

Serafina67 is a fifteen-year-old girl who lives with her mum and visits her dad on weekends. She has a witch under her skin that makes her act terribly sometimes and has made a resolution to be accomplished on April 22nd (blog starts on Christmas) to be happy. On the way, she is helped and hindered by her real and blog friends, Crazy Pete the therapist, her parents (and their significant others), and, of course, her blog.

It's hard to describe Serafina, because she's very full-fleshed and complicated. She can be bouncing off the walls and wonderfully excited about her VTN (Very Thrilling Novel) at the beginning of one day and feel fat, miserable, and prone to chocolate by mid-afternoon. And even when she's at her lowest, she finds humorous ways to unload it onto her readers. She often summarizes horrible events with hilarious but appropriate imaginary dialogue, but one of my favorite moments is when she doesn't feel up to posting and hence composes a blog post entirely in haiku and her friends comment accordingly.

This book reminded me a lot of Stephen Chbosky's epistolary novel THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER, not only because of its content, but also because it feels almost interactive. As I read the posts and the character's reactions, I realized that the format was really cool because it's a mixture between first person (Serafina) and third person (various comments). It was also a neat blur between the privacy of a journal and the public-ness of the Internet. One of Serafina's friends, Georgia Darkly, finds her by Googling "mermaid" and "anorexia."

This is a really fun read and the author, Susie Day, touches on a lot of issues -- I won't call them teen issues, because teens don't have a monopoly on being unhappy even though it sometimes feels like it -- without getting motherly, moral, or "I've-been-there" about it. And I swear that you don't even have to be(en) a teen girl to enjoy it. This book applies to anyone who has ever thought the Parents are crazy, said something they shouldn't have, or just hates their life.

Reviewed by: Natalie Tsang

5.0 out of 5 stars 92 / 100, June 15, 2009

By	Jordyn "book addict" - See all my reviews

serafina67 chronicles Sarah's (aka serafina's) pursuit of happiness as she tries to get her teenaged life in order. The story is told first person via serafina's blog and includes as much drama and angst as one girl can handle. It's a hilarious yet oddly touching read full of fake-emo characters and real family drama. Some readers won't like the lolspeak (ie. internet language) used in the book, but others will find it endearing and wonderful (like I do!).

[...]

4.0 out of 5 stars Enchanting Review: Serafina67 *urgently requires life*, March 4, 2009

By	Enchanting Reviews "Lisa" - See all my reviews

SERAFINA67 *URGENTLY REQUIRES LIFE*
SUSIE DAY
Contemporary Young Adult
Scholastic Press

Rating: 4 Enchantments

Told completely in blog form, SERAFINA67 *URGENTLY REQUIRES LIFE* tells the story of Serafina, a fifteen year old who's dealing with her parents divorce, her life seemingly threatening to unravel around her, not to mention the usual teen angst and the fact that she's suddenly attracting more people to her blog than she ever imagined, including one mysterious commenter she can't figure out their real identity.

I have to admit it took me quite awhile to get into the book. I'm not sure whether it was the blog format or the character of Serafina herself, that there was something about her that took awhile to get used to, maybe it was hard to figure her out for the first while. But by the halfway point, I really started to enjoy the book and Serafina's story.

Susie Day always wanted to be a writer. At the age of 8 she co-wrote a radio play entitled "Paperback Writer", based on the Beatles' song and inexplicably about a racehorse that really wanted to win the Grand National. Susie's first boo, Whump!... in which Bill falls 632 miles down a manhole, won the BBC Children's Fiction Prize. She lives in Oxford, UK.


Lisa
Enchanting Reviews
October 2008