I Think I Love You by Allison Pearson
If you ever had a crush on a pop star or movie star when you were a pre-teen and knew every vital statistic from the “official literature” (read: fan magazines with the fold out posters you argued with your mom about putting on your bedroom walls) then this book is definitely for you.
Petra and Sharon, two thirteen years old from Wales, are the biggest David Cassidy fans EVER. They have read and memorized everything about him and are confident that they have answered all the questions correctly for the Ultimate David Cassidy Quiz. But the years go by and their encyclopedic knowledge of their teen idol gets fuzzy. Over twenty years later Petra is sorting through her mother’s belongings and finds a bright pink envelope she self-addressed as a girl. She WON the Ultimate David Cassidy Quiz! She and Sharon won a trip to meet David Cassidy on the set of the Partridge Family in California! So, naturally, Petra tracks down the publishers of the quiz and asks for her prize.
This is a charming and frothy tale of the hardships of being a teen and of raising teenagers. It’s also about friendship and the power (and necessity) of teen idol worship. While the teen angst and obsession parts are written quite realistically (ah, the joys of the catty young female) there are enough laughs interspersed to spare the reader memories of their own teen pain.
I enthusiastically recommend this one on audio. The reader’s Welsh accents are great, and the way the Welsh girls attempt to speak American is worth hearing.
