The View from the Top - Hardcover

Hillary Frank is a writer and radio producer based in Philadelphia. Her debut novel, Better Than Running at Night, was named a Top Ten First Youth Novel by Booklist and a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association.

*Starred Review* Everything begins and ends with Anabelle in Frank's richly layered, interconnected short stories about a group of small-town high-school students in their last summer before college. Anabelle's egocentric boyfriend, Matt, calculates how the quality and quantity of his art will increase as a result of their inevitable breakup. Jonah, Matt's buddy and resident Lothario, considers hooking up with Anabelle to distance himself from a messy dalliance with an older woman. Lexi, Matt's sister, is trying to work up the courage to tell Anabelle that she wants to be more than friends, while rich, depressed Mary-Tyler has a chance meeting with Anabelle that raises both of their spirits. Quiet, intense Tobin, who loves Anabelle from afar, contemplates telling her how he feels when they find themselves together at the top of a Ferris wheel at summer's end. And Anabelle? She is just struggling to understand who she is, let alone who she is in a relationship. These elegantly written character-driven episodes, each from a different point of view, intimately examine issues of unrequited love, social class, and identity seeking through pitch-perfect interactions that teens will find achingly familiar. Like Natalie Standiford's How to Say Goodbye in Robot (2009), this quirky love story about falling for yourself first will appeal to teens' hearts and heads. Grades 8-12. --Jennifer Hubert