Same Difference is the story of Emily Thompson, a high school student whose world changes when she attends a pre-college art program at a university in nearby Philadelphia. The city, and the people she meets at the program, are a far cry from what she’s used to in her New Jersey suburb. She’s grown up in a subdivision of McMansions, coddled by strip malls, Starbucks and catalog living (aside: I live in a suburb that seems to me very similar, though I grew up in a very different area). The other students in the art program are the odd kids out at their high schools: the goth, indie, alternative, and artsy teens who don’t fit in and choose to celebrate it. In contrast, Emily feels like she doesn’t fit in. She doesn’t wear her art on her sleeve and she wonders if she’s meant to be doing art after all. Add to this her BFF Meg’s decreasing interest in anything that isn’t her boyfriend, and Emily is one confused chica.
This book shows Siobhan Vivian‘s talent and skill just as much as her first book, A Little Friendly Advice, did. She is a master of depicting realistic teen life and feelings without falling into the traps so many authors do. The dialogue rings true, the characters act like real people (and they don’t do those annoying things that so many characters do, the kind where you’re yelling at them or rolling your eyes every two chapters), and the story unfolds with such graceful pacing that you don’t want to put it down.
Highly recommended.
Same Difference will be out in March 2009.
reviewed from a pre-publication ARC
And in related terrific news, Siobhan Vivian has sold two books to Scholastic (David Levithan being his usual brilliant self), so even more awesomeness is on the way!
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