cover image How (Not) to Find a Boyfriend

How (Not) to Find a Boyfriend

Allyson Valentine. Philomel, $16.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-399-25771-1

When Nora Fulbright started high school, she decided to create a new Nora: she switched glasses for contacts, buried her chess star past, and stopped raising her hand so much. As sophomore year begins, she’s made the cheerleading squad, and it looks like the handsome fullback is taking notice of her. Nora’s “popularity quotient” is on the rise, but she’s still afraid that her inner geek will out. Worried that the cheer captain will mock her for taking AP classes, she switches her schedule, then has to switch it back so she’ll have classes with Adam, the brainy and adorable new boy in school. Debut author Valentine initially overstates the divisions between the smart and the not-so-smart, but the story starts to cook as Nora is whiplashed between the two, and as the complicated series of deals she makes to get closer to Adam lead her into social disaster. As Nora finds a way to balance cheerleading and chess, Valentine offers a book about honoring the truth, following one’s bliss, and being oneself that avoids being saccharine or overly prescriptive. Ages 12–up. (June)