- Paperback: 264 pages
- Publisher: Viking Children's Books (31 Mar 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0670040452
- ISBN-13: 978-0670040452
- Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.2 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,627,385 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
MOST OF MY friends now go to Pius Senior College, but my mother wouldn’t allow it because she says the girls there leave with limited options and she didn’t bring me up to have limitations placed upon me. If you know my mother, you’ll sense there’s an irony there, based on the fact that she is the Queen of the Limitation Placers in my life.
Francesca battles her mother, Mia, constantly over what’s best for her. All Francesca wants is her old friends and her old school, but instead Mia sends her to St. Sebastian’s, an all-boys’ school that has just opened its doors to girls. Now Francesca’s surrounded by hundreds of boys, with only a few other girls for company. All of them weirdos—or worse.
Then one day, Mia is too depressed to get out of bed. One day turns into months, and as her family begins to fall apart, Francesca realizes that without her mother’s high spirits, she hardly knows who she is. But she doesn’t yet realize that she’s more like Mia than she thinks. With a little unlikely help from St. Sebastian’s, she just might be able to save her family, her friends, and—especially—herself. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Francesca battles her mother, Mia, constantly over what’s best for her. All Francesca wants is her old friends and her old school, but instead Mia sends her to St. Sebastian’s, an all-boys’ school that has just opened its doors to girls. Now Francesca’s surrounded by hundreds of boys, with only a few other girls for company. All of them weirdos—or worse.
Then one day, Mia is too depressed to get out of bed. One day turns into months, and as her family begins to fall apart, Francesca realizes that without her mother’s high spirits, she hardly knows who she is. But she doesn’t yet realize that she’s more like Mia than she thinks. With a little unlikely help from St. Sebastian’s, she just might be able to save her family, her friends, and—especially—herself. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
What you need to know about this book:
This is a character-driven book. No! Don't run yet. Hear me out. It does start out pretty slow BUT that's because Francesca is confused, a little lost and it takes a few chapters for her to wake up (and for you to start empathizing with her). But once you do, you won't be able to stop reading. Her voice is honest, funny (she's hilarious, seriously) and to the point. It's the kind of book you look forward to picking back up, like, you're doing something and think "oh, I still have to finish this book" and it puts a smile on your face.
What I loved:
The realism of the book. Marchetta doesn't gloss over Mia's depression, quite the contrary. She portrays very accurately what it's like to be a teenager, to not quite know where you fit in and how it feels to have adults telling you what to do all the time. To look at a cute boy and think "my god, what a disgusting pig" because no, teenage boys aren't all perfect and just because they're not doesn't mean they're one-dimensional, shallow people.
Why you should read it:
Because not once did I not understand/empathize with the narrator. It's like the author mixed up all the ingredients to make a perfect character and here I am, adoring Francesca and cheering for her like a demented fangirl.
"I look past them to where Will and his friends are sitting, and he catches my eye for a moment and smiles. It's a weird smile, but it reaches his eyes and I bottle it. And I put it in my ammo pack that's kept right next to my soul. The one that holds Mia's scent and Justine's spirit and Siobhan's hope and Tara's passions. Because if I'm going to wake up one morning and not be able to get out of bed, I'm going to need everything I've got to fight this bastard of a disease that could be sleeping inside me."
Do you love her yet?
Why you need to read it right now:
This is the kind of book that goes somewhere, you know? Even if not everything is resolved, you see the characters maturing and it gets you a little teary-eyed because you feel like you were there, right along with them as they tried to make sense of life. And you wish them the best, and you're sad to let them go.
It's a short book, but one that will definitely stay in your heart for a long time.
This is a character-driven book. No! Don't run yet. Hear me out. It does start out pretty slow BUT that's because Francesca is confused, a little lost and it takes a few chapters for her to wake up (and for you to start empathizing with her). But once you do, you won't be able to stop reading. Her voice is honest, funny (she's hilarious, seriously) and to the point. It's the kind of book you look forward to picking back up, like, you're doing something and think "oh, I still have to finish this book" and it puts a smile on your face.
What I loved:
The realism of the book. Marchetta doesn't gloss over Mia's depression, quite the contrary. She portrays very accurately what it's like to be a teenager, to not quite know where you fit in and how it feels to have adults telling you what to do all the time. To look at a cute boy and think "my god, what a disgusting pig" because no, teenage boys aren't all perfect and just because they're not doesn't mean they're one-dimensional, shallow people.
Why you should read it:
Because not once did I not understand/empathize with the narrator. It's like the author mixed up all the ingredients to make a perfect character and here I am, adoring Francesca and cheering for her like a demented fangirl.
"I look past them to where Will and his friends are sitting, and he catches my eye for a moment and smiles. It's a weird smile, but it reaches his eyes and I bottle it. And I put it in my ammo pack that's kept right next to my soul. The one that holds Mia's scent and Justine's spirit and Siobhan's hope and Tara's passions. Because if I'm going to wake up one morning and not be able to get out of bed, I'm going to need everything I've got to fight this bastard of a disease that could be sleeping inside me."
Do you love her yet?
Why you need to read it right now:
This is the kind of book that goes somewhere, you know? Even if not everything is resolved, you see the characters maturing and it gets you a little teary-eyed because you feel like you were there, right along with them as they tried to make sense of life. And you wish them the best, and you're sad to let them go.
It's a short book, but one that will definitely stay in your heart for a long time.
Format:Paperback
An absolutely brilliant book, definitely one of my favourites (alongside Melina Marchetta's other books Looking for Alibrandi and the Piper's son- a sequel to this book) I can read it over and over and never get tired of it, even though I can quote whole chunks of it!
Probably not a book I'll grow out of quickly either, I first read it when I was about 13 and I'm 18 now and still love it.
The characters seem so real, and it is so easy to emphasise with Francesca and I feel as though I am her when I'm reading the book. It makes me cry every single time, and when I read it I feel as though I'm in some sort of trance, as though I'm in her world in St Sebastian's with her family and friends rather than my own world, and as she develops relationships and friendships with the other characters it's as though I am becoming friends with them and we slowly learn more about each person throughout the book.
I cannot praise it highly enough and would definitely recommend it to anybody :)
Probably not a book I'll grow out of quickly either, I first read it when I was about 13 and I'm 18 now and still love it.
The characters seem so real, and it is so easy to emphasise with Francesca and I feel as though I am her when I'm reading the book. It makes me cry every single time, and when I read it I feel as though I'm in some sort of trance, as though I'm in her world in St Sebastian's with her family and friends rather than my own world, and as she develops relationships and friendships with the other characters it's as though I am becoming friends with them and we slowly learn more about each person throughout the book.
I cannot praise it highly enough and would definitely recommend it to anybody :)
Format:Paperback
... To be fair you don't need to be a teenager to read this book, just have a soft spot for a sweet story. When I was a teenager, I was drawn to this book cos it's not just a romance, there is also a story about how a family copes with crisis. Now, this is my go to book if I feel sad or lonely, or if I just want to read an easy book with a great plot. This book always cheers me up, I cannot recommend it highly enough.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The book of my early teens
Francesca (Frank/Frankie - depending on who's speaking to her) moves, against her wishes, to a school which was formally a boys-only school but now accepting a class of girls. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Rachel
Amazing!!
Loved this book!
Francesca is an Australian teenager of Italian descent living in Sydney. Read more
Francesca is an Australian teenager of Italian descent living in Sydney. Read more
Published on 7 Feb 2008 by S. Castaignede
I love Francesca!
This book was lovely. I read it straight through, only stopping to eat dinner and going to bed much later than I should have.But it was worth it. Read more
Published on 17 July 2007 by J Bond
Reminisce about high school years...
This is a terrific book and although its written in very simple, accessible language, its themes are complex and have depth. Read more
Published on 8 Jan 2007 by K. Worsdell
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