Deborah Halverson

When Monalisa Kent was six years old, she accidentally burned down the futon factory which employed most of the townspeople including her father. In the ten years that have elapsed apparently the townspeople still hate her for this accident even though they have recovered economically by focusing on the university and its students and providing endless fast food joints. Every year the local TV station does a profile of the fire and the heroics of Mac Kent, Mona’s dad who saved Mona and her best friend Paco Glenn from the raging inferno and who hasn’t been the same since his wife’s death. Mona also collects bumper stickers which lead to her gaining attention in a whole new way when she stands on the table of a local fast food restaurant and shouts out a bumper sticker slogan leading to random poetry raids around town. This implausible plotline coupled with a series of quirky characters providing subplots to the tale but with no real discernable narrative thread make this book a tedious and repetitious read.… (mer)

Bullies, body issues, and disordered eating neatly hidden behind middle-school guy humor and sports. IOW: an excellent choice for the 8th grade summer reading book IF ONLY IT WERE STILL IN PRINT GOD DAMMIT.

And now that I'm finished--yeah, this would have been perfect, if only it met the criteria of BEING AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE. There's a mostly-unrealistic scene at the end with the bully (the main character stands up to him and his friends stand with him, and other kids start standing with him as well until half the cafeteria tells the bully to pound sand) but I've seen much, much worse culminations of that moment, so I'm willing to let it go. Maybe if I lobby the publisher, I can get it in paperback in time for May?… (mer)

Reviewed by Randstostipher "tallnlankyrn" Nguyen for TeensReadToo.com

Monalisa Kent has had a strange childhood, one that has made everyone in town hate her and treat her like an outsider.

But it's not Monalisa's fault that she accidentally burned down the futon factory, the one building that had tons of meaning and was considered the town's landscape and nucleus. She was just a kid, and it is what it is -- just an accident. Of course, no one in her town can understand this, or will find it in themselves to forgive her.

Ten years later, Monalisa has changed (specifically, her hair color) and is all grown up. But the town still hasn't. This year just so happens to be the anniversary of the fall of the futon factory, and the events of the past are still on everyone's mind. You would think that after this much time has passed, people would forgive and forget!

Monalisa is fine, though. She enjoys having purple hair, she likes her special hangout, and she doesn't mind having Glenn as a friend, since he is her only one. But soon Monalisa will see that in order for others to forget, she needs to stop hiding and help them get over it, even if it means having to deal with every single person in town.

HONK IF YOU HATE ME is just as unique and funny as Mona's purple hair. Deborah Halverson creates a situation in which none of us want to be in but would rather stanf on the sidelines and root for Mona. Read this one if you want to laugh your butt off!… (mer)