25. Ttfn by Lauren Myracle

Ttfn by Lauren Myracle
ISBN: 0810959712
Amulet Books, New York, 2006
224 pages

Teaser: Drama, secrets, and love are revealed among the instant messages between best friends Angela, Maddie, and Zoe.

Summary: Told entirely in the instant messages between Angela, Maddie and Zoe, the trials and tribulations of junior year unfold. Angela is forced to move away when her father loses his job and finds a new one in another city. Maddie experiments with marijuana and falls in with a bad crowd. Zoe ends up dating a boy that used to like Angela, but Angela only saw as a friend. Eventually, Angela runs away to her aunt, who lives in her old home town where her friends are, Maddie gets caught buying pot, and Zoe's mother walks in on her and her boyfriend when they are getting very close to going too far.

Evaluation: The instant message format is a very different way to see into the main characters lives. In a way, the entire story is told only through dialog, though the dialog is written rather than spoken. This creates both a very intimate feeling, and a strangely detached and disjointed feeling. The girls all have various dramas in their lives, and it is interesting to see how the girls deal with it. Angela feels alone and out of place, and eventually makes a somewhat dangerous cross country trip to get back to the place she thinks of as home. Maddie feels rebellious, and ends up with a crush for the wrong guy, hanging out in a bad crowd and smoking pot. Zoe is torn over going out with a boy that she likes, and who likes her, because she feels that dating the boy that used to like one of her best friends is a betrayal, even though her friend and the boy never actually dated.

While the author does not seem to be encouraging bad behavior, Maddie seems to get a free pass for her actions. The danger Angela puts herself in when she runs away is not dealt with either, and she ends up actually being rewarded for her behavior. Zoe was the least offensive to me, as she was reckless, but did seem to express the most understanding of her bad situation, saying she was glad that her mom stopped her from going too far before she was ready. I'm not saying that I want the book to be more preachy, but I didn't really feel like the lighthearted "oh we were bad and got grounded for it" approach was serious enough for the topics discussed.

Challenge issues and age recommendation: Sex, drugs, drinking, and running away from home are all present in this book. There are no real consequences for these actions, other than being grounded, and the book sometimes gets a bit raunchy with some of the conversations. I'd feel uncomfortable recommending this book to anyone under 15, due to how casually these topics are treated.