I Just Read About That…

 SOUNDTRACK: hiatus

[READ: February 19, 2025 ] Please Be My Star

My daughter brought this book home from the library and said that she liked it, but it was kind of weird, and that I should read it.

So I did.

I loved the art style.  It’s a style that I can’t really do, but which I find very appealing.  I liked that it had a manga feel but wasn’t manga.  I also really liked that there was a fair amount of Spanish in it.

The story is fairly simple.  Erika moved to a new high school.  She was kind of a loner in her previous school.  Having been rejected by friends and potential boyfriends at the old school means she is full of self-doubt.  This self doubt takes the form of a ghostly version of herself who criticizes her in speech bubbles that are black with white text.  And the ghostly version of herself is nasty!

Erika joins the drama club, but they are told that they are not going to be doing a school play this year.  Instead, whoever wants to, can enter a one act play in a local performance.  The writer/director will do everything from casting to set building to everything.

Erika has a massive crush on Christian, a hot boy in class.  His family is Mexican which is where the Spanish comes in.  I love that they go to his house and Erika is given a brief tutorial on how to behave in a Mexican household–and she gets to eat delicious homemade enchiladas de Potosí.  Erika decides to write a play specifically for Christina to star in.

He agrees and the bulk of the book is about them prepping for the play, getting sets and dialogue ready and Erika wondering and worrying about whether Christian likes her back (and why would he, since he is so hot and all).  There’s some minor friction with Paola, a girl who has known Christian forever and who is very possessive of him.  But that storyline is quickly dismissed.

Erika is obsessing pretty hard–stealing things that he forgets at her house and building a little shrine to him.  And then he sees the shrine–gasp!

I enjoyed the other characters quite a lot. Morgan, who plays a character as if he were a drunken pirate, is pretty funny.  And her budding friendship with Julie feels real and nice.  I also really like Erika’s trademark green jacket–that was a nice touch.

I was a little puzzled when it seemed like Christian could hear the black speech bubbles of her inner monologue.  Maybe I wasn’t reading closely enough but that felt odd.  It was also odd that Erika was so cute that she would have such insecurities (I know everyone has insecurities, but aside from being insecure she’s otherwise pretty perfect).  But heck, that’s what being a teenager is like.

I really liked this book and I really liked all of the music references both in the book (a Sonic Youth album) and in the chapter titles–Elvis Costello, They Might Be Giants, Cafe Tacvba and Radiohead