Life Is Funny - Hardcover

Frank, E R

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1481431641 ISBN 13: 9781481431644

Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2016

Synopsis

E. R. Frank's seminal first novel weaves together the stories of eleven teenagers in one city over seven years in this groundbreaking and "impressive debut" (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

Why does Gingerbread always have a smile on his face? "Because life is funny," he tells Keisha. But for her--and almost everyone else in her Brooklyn neighborhood--there doesn't seem to be much to laugh about.

China, Ebony, and Grace are best friends, but Grace's mother isn't crazy about her being friends with two girls who aren't white, and each cut Ebony makes on her wrist seems to drive them even further apart.

Just across the schoolyard there's Eric who has to raise his younger brother Mickey, even though no one expects him to amount to anything. Meanwhile, Sonia's Muslim parents expect everything of her, and it may be more than she is able to give after she suffers a shattering loss.

When Drew brings his father's Jaguar into Sam's family's auto body shop across town they seem to be from opposite sides of the tracks, but Drew's the one hiding a dark family secret. And he's not the only one.

About this title

Review:

"Well-written and impressive debut....Readers...will enjoy the triumphs and be empathetic to the tragedies."
--VOYA "October 2016 "

About the Author:

E.R. Frank is the author of America, Friction, Wrecked, and Dime. Her first novel, Life Is Funny, won the Teen People Book Club NEXT Award for YA Fiction and was also a top-ten ALA 2001 Quick Pick. In addition to being writer, E.R. Frank is also a clinical social worker and psychotherapist. She works with adults and adolescents and specializes in trauma.

About this edition

• Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1481431641
• ISBN 13: 9781481431644
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288