To Be Mona Book

Sage Priestly is seventeen, and she longs to reinvent herself — to strip away the fat, the past, the crazy mom, the unpaid bills. She longs to be her own version of the gorgeous and popular Mona Simms.

Sage starts dieting and exercising. She gets blond highlights and throws away all of her black clothes. Bit by bit she transforms herself. This is deeply troubling to her best friend, Vern, who is secretly in love with Sage just the way she is. But the boyfriend Sage wants — the popular jock Roger — suddenly notices her. And when they start dating, Sage thinks her life is turning around.

So why isn't Sage happier? Yes, Roger is a little too controlling and pushy, but isn't that what boys are like when you date them? What is it about the image Sage has created that just doesn't fit?

Smart, honest, and tough, Sage is a teen with more going for her than she thinks, but she still has a lot to learn.

KLIATT

Sage would love to reinvent herself and her entire life. She's dieting, trying to figure out how to juggle her mother's extreme mood swings, wishing she had the cash to buy a wardrobe that could be labeled something other than "retro" and hiding her embarrassment that her mother can't hold a job long enough to afford groceries. Instead, she'll take action: get a job, lose some weight and aspire to the perfectly normal life of popular Mona. Easton writes a story of Sage and her friends during a tumultuous senior year that is filled with hard issues, but then the life of an adolescent, especially on the edge of graduation, can be just that. Issues of understanding and treating bipolar disorder, recognizing and extracting oneself from an abusive relationship, coping with one's sexual orientation in a healthy manner, and dealing honestly with life are all addressed. Changes in the point of view from one friend to the other underscore the message of appearances being different from the reality of the situation. Teens will learn that it's difficult to overcome one's unique set of challenges, but life is about making the best of what you have. Reviewer: Aimee Cole