Pink by Lili Wilkinson

Pink by Lili Wilkinson

Description from Goodreads:

Ava has a secret. She is tired of her ultracool attitude, ultra-radical politics, and ultrablack clothing. She’s ready to try something new—she’s even ready to be someone new. Someone who fits in, someone with a gorgeous boyfriend, someone who wears pink.

Transferring to Billy Hughes School for Academic Excellence is the perfect chance to try on a new identity. But just in case things don’t work out, Ava is hiding her new interests from her parents, and especially from her old girlfriend.

Secrets have a way of being hard to keep, though, and Ava finds that changing herself is more complicated than changing her wardrobe. Even getting involved in the school musical raises issues she never imagined. As she faces surprising choices and unforeseen consequences, Ava wonders if she will ever figure out who she really wants to be.

Humor, heart, and the joys of drama—on- and offstage—combine in Ava’s delight-fully colorful journey of self-discovery.

This book was great!  I really enjoyed Ava’s journey from being emo-goth to a Pastel to a Screw.  I liked how she didn’t know who she was and was trying to figure it out, even if she was going about it wrong.  That’s definitely relate able.  I think that’s what I liked the most about Ava – she felt pushed into a corner by her life and she understood herself enough to want to explore the rest of the world.  She wanted to to be have her own personality and desires, even if she wasn’t quite sure what that meant.

I really loved the Screws.  They were all really fun characters.  I liked how they fit multiple stereotypes, but just accepted each other in spite of (or maybe because of) their differences.  I especially loved Jen and Sam. I loved how smart all of the Screws were.  It made the book more fun as I learned random facts.

I really didn’t like Chloe and I never felt like she had any redeeming qualities.  I struggled a bit with Ava’s parents, but I liked them in the end.  Occasionally, I felt like the book entered into “and now we talk about stereotypes” mode, but it was usually interesting and passed pretty quickly.

Overall, this was a fantastic read that I’d recommend!

Read as part of the Aussie YA Challenge.

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