"If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales." Albert Einstein

13 August 2014

Great



Benincasa, Sara. Great. Harper Teen, 2014.

Naomi travels to the Hamptons to spend the summer with her mother. She doesn't fit in with the entitled teens around her, and she's expecting to spend the summer bored out of her mind. Enter Jacinta, the mysterious girl next door who throws lavish parties. This modern retelling of The Great Gatsby will ring true with readers who have already loved Gatsby; for those who have not yet read Fitzgerald's classic, this story will still entertain.

I enjoyed this story as a retelling of Gatsby, but I don't see this being a popular book at my middle school library. I could easily sell it to high school readers, though, and were I still an English teacher, I could offer it as a bonus read to students who have read Gatsby.

Recommended for: teens
Red Flags: alcohol use, drug use, language
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

Read-alikes: Drama Queens in the House, The Great Gatsby, We Were Liars

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