Common Sense Media Review
By Terreece Clarke
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Comical coming-of-age with teen sex, MIA parents.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
Tess Whistle is having a rough year. Her parents get some insane idea about joining a survival camp in Utah and leave her with her grandmother, plus her best friend builds a bomb and obsesses about blowing up a poodle. When a new boy shows up at school she falls for him instantly and hopes he can block out all the craziness in her life. Maybe, maybe not.
Is It Any Good?
LOST IT is a pretty darn funny coming-of-age book that takes us through a complicated time in quirky teen Tess Whistle's life. In a twist, while Tess is exploring more grown-up relationships and sex, parents in the book are off experiencing a second adolescence. No meddling parents are shocked with Tess' explorations, and it's her grandmother who gives her a book on sexuality. It takes a pretty dangerous situation to get parents to take notice again.
The book is clear on what happens to girls like Tess without parenting -- they become dependent on their boyfriends for support, often too dependent. Still Tess' mistakes and her ability to cope offer positive lessons for mature teen readers.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about healthy relationships, sex education, and ways to cope with negative issues. Would Tess have made the same decisions if she had had access to sex education? How did Tess' worries about her family and friends hurt her relationship with Ben?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Coming of Age
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Simon Pulse
- Publication date : January 23, 2007
- Number of pages : 288
- Last updated : July 15, 2015
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