Ava attends a crappy high school where no one cares about actually learning anything but her. She wears all black. She's an out lesbian. She dates Chloe, the cool and pretentious feminist queen.
She's sick of it all.
Ava wants to work hard in school without being ridiculed. She wants to see what dating a boy is like. She wants to wear PINK. So she applies to the prestigious Billy Hughes Academy for Academic Excellence where she'll be a complete unknown - where can try on her new life and hide it from her girlfriend and ultra-liberal parents.
This novel is filled with theater tech and broadway musical references, as well as feminist philosophy and literature references. However, knowledge of these subjects isn't necessary to enjoy the book - even Ava doesn't know what they're talking about most of the time. I have to admit that Ava's journey is somewhat painful to watch - mostly because I just wanted to grab her and shake some sense into her. She can be profoundly stupid at times. However, I ultimately really enjoyed the book and all the quirky secondary characters.
Writing about bisexual characters can be difficult; some authors feel the need to come down on one side or the other at the end of the novel, close the book with the character dating either a male or a female. Wilkinson left us with a character who was still questioning, still settling into her sexuality and coming to accept bisexuality as an option, and I found that very satisfying and realistic. This is a great book to give to questioning teens.
Pink is the American debut of Austrailian author Lili Wilkinson and is a Stonewall Honor Book. Full of snarky wit and unashamed geeking, this novel makes for a fun summer read.
Other YA novels featuring bisexual teens:
My Heartbeat by Garret Freymann-Weyr
Empress of the World by Sara Ryan
My Invented Life by Lauren Bjorkman
Postcards from No Man's Land by Aidan Chambers
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