UnExpected

Paisley Hanover Acts Out came as a surprise. It was, in Paisley speak, UnExpected. The book comes packaged in a cute box with a hot pink and orange cover with a cartoony picture on front. Inside is the book and then a little notebook that I thought was blank but was really a copy of Paisley's notebook. Judging by the cover, it was going to be a cute, fun story about middle school with little cartoony drawings. It was a fun story. But it was more than that. First off, Paisley is a high school sophomore. Secondly, there were not cute little illustrations throughout the book (totally fine by me). And lastly, Paisley is struggling to be who she really is, not just who she thinks the world wants her to be. But now that she's invested a lot of herself in becoming popular suddenly deciding to make a shift is not so easy. This could have been just one of many stories about a girl deciding to think for herself but stands out from the herd because of Paisley's completely believable snarky voice--occasionally anguished, usually funny, always heartfelt.

Paisley Hanover Acts Out by Cameron Tuttle, 978-978-0-8037-3586-5