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A review by mrskatiefitz
A Field Guide to High School by Marissa Walsh
5.0
This book was a different kind of read, but a good one. Andie, a soon-to-be high school freshman receives a book from her new college freshman sister, explaining how to get through her first year at their private high school and describing the cliques, faculty members, and ins and outs of day to day life as a high school student. The field guide itself, written in the sister's ironic voice, is very well-done. Some of the references to older movies and shows resonated more with me, who attended high school in the late 90s, than I think they would with teens attending high school now, but even if readers glossed over those references, the rest of the book holds up well.
I was also pleased to see that while the story paints a pretty unpleasant dog-eat-dog image of the years one spends in high school, through Andie's dialogue with her friend, Bess, and her sister's own private letter to Andie in the end, we see the other side as well, that things aren't always that bad, and every person paves his or her own way around the pitfalls.
My only complaint is about the very abrupt ending. In a way, this felt like the first part of a much longer book we will never get to read. But what was written was great, and I wish Marissa Walsh would write more YA!
I was also pleased to see that while the story paints a pretty unpleasant dog-eat-dog image of the years one spends in high school, through Andie's dialogue with her friend, Bess, and her sister's own private letter to Andie in the end, we see the other side as well, that things aren't always that bad, and every person paves his or her own way around the pitfalls.
My only complaint is about the very abrupt ending. In a way, this felt like the first part of a much longer book we will never get to read. But what was written was great, and I wish Marissa Walsh would write more YA!