ACCESS DIGITIZED EDITION
Guide/Reviews Database
OLDER FICTION
Lane, Kathleen

Pity Party

208 pp. | Little | January, 2021 | Trade ISBN 978-0-316-41736-5 $16.99 | Ebook ISBN 978-0-316-41735-8 $9.99
(1) YA Katya is a nervous middle schooler whose fertile imagination defaults to disaster. The voice in her head warns of poisoned Halloween candy, looming social ostracism, imminent acne, and rabid raccoons. In six short entries we cheer her on as she breaks free of her fears and banishes the voice. Interleaved with this unifying story are portraits of Katya's classmates at Bridger Middle School: Julian with his phobia about odd numbers, Kiera with her imposter syndrome, Gio who gets a new personality delivered in a box, Alice who feels so invisible she fears she's a ghost. The tone shifts from naturalistic to surreal, jokey to strange, goofy to mordant, poetic to unabashedly therapeutic. Added to the mix are a recurring faux-interactive "Choose Your Own Catastrophe" game; teen-magazine-style quizzes; the minimalist saga of Marta, who wished for a different life and gets stuck being a tree; an invitation to a gathering for Elena, who died of embarrassment. All the varied moods and textures of these pieces come together into an original, convincing, spot-on, and weirdly moving collage portrait of middle-school-age insecurities, anxieties, awkwardness, and interpersonal dynamics.
Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2021

RELATED 

OLDER FICTION

What Beauty There Is
by Anderson, Cory
OLDER FICTION

Between Perfect and Real
by Stoeve, Ray
OLDER FICTION

Zoe Rosenthal Is Not Lawful Good
by Werlin, Nancy
OLDER FICTION

Home Is Not a Country
by Elhillo, Safia
OLDER FICTION

All Our Hidden Gifts
by O'Donoghue, Caroline
More

Get connected. Join our global community of more than 200,000 librarians and educators.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

We are currently offering this content for free. Sign up now to activate your personal profile, where you can save articles for future viewing.

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?