For some, summer comes with a new job that is less than exciting. Have you ever had to dress up in a costume for a job? Here are two reads and a title generator for your own novel!
Chicken Girl
By Heather Smith
ISBN 9780143198680 | Penguin Teen Canada
Hardcover | 240 pages | Ages 12+
Poppy used to be an optimist. But after a photo of her dressed as Rosie the Riveter is mocked online, she’s having trouble seeing the good in the world. As a result, Poppy trades her beloved vintage clothes for a feathered chicken costume and accepts a job as an anonymous sign waver outside a restaurant. There, Poppy meets six-year-old girl Miracle, who helps Poppy see beyond her own pain, opening her eyes to the people around her: Cam, her twin brother, who is adjusting to life as an openly gay teen; Buck, a charming photographer with a cute British accent and a not-so-cute mean-streak; and Lewis a teen caring for an ailing parent, while struggling to reach the final stages of his gender transition. As the summer unfolds, Poppy stops glorifying the past and starts focusing on the present. But just as she comes to terms with the fact that there is good and bad in everyone, she is tested by a deep betrayal.
Hot Dog Girl
By Jennifer Dugan
ISBN 9780525516255 | G.P. Putnam’s Sons BFYR
Hardcover | 320 Pages | Ages 12+
Elouise (Lou) Parker is determined to have the absolute best, most impossibly epic summer of her life. There are just a few things standing in her way:
- She’s landed a job at Magic Castle Playland . . . as a giant dancing hot dog.
- Her crush, the dreamy Diving Pirate Nick, already has a girlfriend, who is literally the Princess of the park. But Lou’s never liked anyone, guy or otherwise, this much before, and now she wants a chance at her own happily ever after.
- Her best friend, Seeley, the carousel operator, who’s always been up for anything, suddenly isn’t when it comes to Lou’s quest to set her up with the perfect girl or Lou’s scheme to get close to Nick.
- And it turns out that this will be their last summer at Magic Castle Playland – ever -unless she can find a way to stop it from closing.
Jennifer Dugan’s sparkling debut coming-of-age queer romance stars a princess, a pirate, a hot dog, and a carousel operator who find love – and themselves – in unexpected people and unforgettable places.
Now make your own title – and don’t forget to choose a genre!
