Pink is for girls, or is it?

PINK by Lili Wilkinson (HarperTeen 2011/ grabs readers with the cover (see above) along with some nice blurbs from John Green, Michael Cart, and Justine Larbalestier. Ava has decided to attend the rather prestigious Billy Hughes School for Academic Excellence instead of her own high school. This decision means being apart from her partner Chloe. For Ava, it also means a new beginning. This school is the place where she can be a different person from who she has been. She can wear pink and skirts. She can hang out with the popular kids. Chloe and Ava's parents are all concerned that somehow Ava is being untrue to herself. However, Ava is enjoying her new friends, especially the stage crew group who works behind the scenes at school. <129>

Ava's journey is an interesting one, fraught with all sorts of disasters and discoveries. Missteps lead to more grave mistakes, errors in judgment. Ava is forced to come to terms with all those whose feelings she has trampled in her effort to find out who she truly is. There are no easy answers here. Ava is on a voyage that is not yet complete. However, by the end of the novel, she has her "sea legs," and there is hope that Ava's journey now will be a tad smoother.