Megan McCafferty's Jessica Darling's It List
OK, I'm just gonna say, first of all, I LOVE the Jessica Darling books, and was glad to revisit Jessica and her world. But a cynical part of me feels a little bit like McCafferty bombed a little bit with her dystopian duology (Bumped and Thumped) and wanted to get back to something she was comfortable with. I'm not sure a prequel to the Jessica Darling series was exactly the way to go. On the one hand, like I said, it's great to revisit Jessica and get her origin story. On the other, a lot of this was covered in the books themselves, and seeing a Jessica that hasn't grown up (in the sense that we see her maturing and becoming stronger in the original books) yet feels a little bit like going backwards. But it is all very charming, in the usual Jessica Darling way. I guess this is aimed more at a middle-grade audience--it's all about Jessica starting middle school--but it doesn't feel like McCafferty is writing down to them (a problem I had with Bumped). And she totally nails that middle school feeling. Looks like a sequel is due out next fall and yes, I'll probably be reading it. B+.
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