How to Ruin My Teenage Life by Simone Elkeles

Year Published:2001
Publisher: Flux
ISBN: 0738710199
Pages: 281
Classification: Fiction
Personal Rating: 4 Stars
Interest Level: 7-12
Subjects: School stories, Father-daughter relationship, Interpersonal relations, Chicago (Ill.), Jews. United States, Identity (Psychology), Israelis. United States. Fiction

Reader's Annotation: After Amy returns from Israel with her father, she has a lot of things to deal with in her life - a workaholic and dateless father, no communication with her "non-boyfriend" in the Israeli army, a pregnant and excited mother with her new stepfather, an annoying but cute next door neighbor and her horny dog mutt. How is she going to manage her own teenage life?

Summary: Amy has been enjoying a new religious education and exploration of her heritage, which got a running start during her trip to Israel, but the list of annoyances potentially ruining her life is almost too much for her. Dad needs a date and a life, so she signs him up for a Jewish online dating service using his credit card without mentioning it. Her mom and step dad are expecting a baby, which freaks Amy out. The biggest insult is from Nathan, a geeky-looking but intriguing new guy who completely rubs her the wrong way, but she kisses him anyway. A retaliation kiss from him in the cafeteria is hard to explain when Avi shows up for a surprise visit.

Evaluation: An entertaining book about adolescent angst however, the author uses profanity and vulgarity for her character's voice.

Reviews and Awards: School Library Journal, Voice of Youth Advocates

Author Website: www.simoneelkeles.net

How to Ruin My Summer Vacation by Simone Elkeles

Year Published: 2006
Publisher: Flux
ISBN: 0738709611
Pages: 234
Price: $15.95 (Library Bound)
Classification: Fiction
Interest Level: 7-12
Personal Rating: 4 Stars
Reading Level: 4
Subjects: Family, Father-daughter relationship, Jews, Israel

Reader's Annotation: Your estranged father calls you out of the blue to tell you that you have to leave with him to go to Israel to see your sick grandmother. What will you say?
a. Israel - I can buy nice dresses there
b. Israel - the country that always gets bombed as shown in CNN
c. Israel - no thanks. I want to stay in America and spend my summer at the tennis camp

Summary: Amy Nelson is a stereotypical spoiled American teen who has stereotypical plans for her summer vacation: shopping, friends, boyfriend. Suddenly,her long-absent father calls to inform her that the grandmother whom she has never met is ill and that Amy needs to go to Israel to meet her.They travel to Israel and goes through a culture shock. She shares a room with a cousin who hates her for being a spoiled American, lusting after a brooding older boy on the verge of his mandatory military service, and learning more than she ever thought possible about her faith, her family, their history, and their present. Amy gets a new perspective of her father, her culture, life and boys.

Evaluation: An easy read with a lot of humor about a typical American teenager. The author used a lot of profanity and vulgarity in her character's language to depict the modern teenage expressions.

Author Website: www.simoneelkeles.net