Love-shy

Product description Penny is a schoolgirl investigative journalist in search of a story. A boy at her school who is painfully love-shy is surely the perfect subject for a feature article-what could go wrong? Penny Drummond aspires to be a prize-winning journalist. In the meantime, she's honing her skills on the East Glendale Secondary College Gazette. When she discovers a boy at her school is posting anonymous messages on loveshy.com, Penny believes she has found just the story she needs. Her mission: find him, fix him, feature-article him. Next stop: Pulitzer Prize. But what will become of her journey-of-the-soul article if the love-shy boy is not who she expects? And what if Penny finds that her soul might be in need of a little attention as well? Love-Shy is a lively, entertaining, and warm-hearted romantic comedy filled with serious secrets, ambitious plans, awkward moments, and unexpected friendships. From School Library Journal Gr 9 Up-The most refreshing aspect of this novel is the teen protagonist, Penny, who has an overabundance of confidence, intelligence, and capabilities and seems completely unflappable. Frequently, this is also the most annoying part of the story. As a scholastic wiz-kid and great athlete, Penny stars on the school's debate team, swim team, and is an active participant in a number of other extracurricular activities. Ever focused and driven, Penny's personal best shows in her work for the school newspaper, and she'll stop at nothing for a front-page story. When she stumbles across a "Love-shy" blog post-left open and quickly abandoned on the school library's computer-Penny jumps into investigative journalism mode. Penny uncovers that "Love-shy" is Nick, a handsome fellow student. Under Nick's shy exterior an emotional crisis is festering. There is nothing subtle about Penny. She sniffs with disdain over her classmates' interest in friendship and popularity, and proudly flaunts her single-minded focus. Her ambition drives her to pry into Nick's blog post and dig through his personal life. Nick is mortified that Penny is onto him and infuriated that she won't respect his privacy. This is a view of two teens, at opposite ends of the social, emotional, and academic spectrum. Penny uncovers something about Nick and backs herself into an awkward corner as her obsession eclipses everything else. The conversations among the teen characters often seem silly and superficial. An additional purchase.-Alison Follos, formerly at North Country School, Lake Placid, NY Review "A hard-hitting story about looking beyond surface personalities and reaching out to friends in need." - Booklist About the Author Lili Wilkinson works at a center for youth literature and is the author of The Not Quite Perfect Boyfriend, Pink, and A Pocketful of Eyes.