My Best Friend, the Atlantic Ocean, and Other Great Bodies Standing Between Me and My Life with Giulio

by Jane Harrington

Overview

Who knew that non-boy-crazy-jock Brady would return from Europe with an Italian boyfriend? In this sequel to Four Things My Geeky-Jock-of-a-Best-Friend Must Do in Europe, Delia launches a sneaky plan to grab Giulio the very moment he and Brady break up, which, according to all Delia's research, should be in about 41 days.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467732178
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/01/2013
Series:	Fiction - Middle Grade
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	168
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	11 - 12 Years

About the Author

A child of the Washington DC burbs, Jane grew up with two brothers and three sisters, a mom and a dad, a beagle named Charlie and a parakeet named Pudgie. Summers were spent submerged in the local swimming pool, and winter days waned in front of TV reruns of Laugh-In and The Twilight Zone. Despite many hardships (no computers, cell phones, DVDs or microwave popcorn, to name just a few) she reached adulthood in the late 1970s. By 1990 she had three daughters, to whom she'd read aloud the entire collection of children's books at the local public library. That's when she started writing. For almost twenty years, Jane's writing has been inspired by her three daughters. Their lively personalities regularly surface in her fiction. Meghan, her oldest daughter, held the spotlight in her first published short stories in Hopscotch Magazine. Her youngest, Lucy, was strikingly similar to the central character of her first published book, Lucy's (Completely Cool and Totally True) E-Journal. And though her "middlest" daughter, Emma, may not be just like Brady, her adventures and friends sparked Four Things My Geeky-Jock-of-a-Best-Friend Must Do In Europe, as well as the spin-off novel, My Best Friend, the Atlantic Ocean, and Other Great Bodies Standing Between Me and my Life with Giulio.   She loves to hike in the Blue Ridge Mountains, watch Washington Nationals baseball, and visit Ireland—the setting of her latest writing endeavor.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 6-8- Reminiscent of Louise Rennison's Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging (HarperCollins, 2000), this follow-up to Harrington's Four Things My Geeky-Jock-of-a-Best-Friend Must Do in Europe (Darby Creek, 2006) is sure to please fans. Delia must keep a poetry journal that no one will ever read for her freshman English class. This is where she divulges her secret love for her superjock best friend Brady's Euro-hottie boyfriend, Giulio. No problem; according to the Internet, the average teen relationship lasts 34 days. She can just wait it out. In the meantime, she keeps score for the football team, helps Brady figure out why she can't hit the baseball, dresses like Rogue from X-Men for Halloween, and attracts meathead football players because of her new push-up bra. Delia is solid and likable, and her voice is less self-absorbed and melodramatic than Georgia's. She resorts to humor when thinking becomes too much work, and her teen-drama observations are laugh-out-loud funny. Harrington incorporates just the right amount of adolescent lingo and technology. Side characters, like Brady and Giulio, are well developed, and the plot rescues itself from becoming mushy with clever wordplays. This is a fresh take on teen romance. Expect readers to beg for the next installment.-Richelle Roth, Wilmington Public Library, OH

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