TBH #1: TBH, This Is So Awkward - Hardcover

Greenwald, Lisa

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0062689908 ISBN 13: 9780062689900

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2018

Synopsis

Told entirely in text messages, this addictive new series from the acclaimed author of My Life in Pink & Green is perfect for fans of Lauren Myracle and Wendy Mass. 

To be honest, middle school is rough! Cecily, Gabby, and Prianka have been BFFAE since pre-K, so it’s totally natural when they don’t include the new girl, Victoria, in their plans and group texts.

Between organizing the school Valentine’s Day dance, prepping for their first boy-girl party, and trying to keep their texts so boring their moms won’t use spy apps to read them, the friends only have time for each other.

But when Victoria is accidentally sent a hurtful text message, the entire sixth grade gets called out for bullying, cell phones are confiscated, and the trio known as CPG4Eva is forced to figure out just how strong their friendships are IRL.

About this title

About the Author

Lisa Greenwald is the author of the TBH books, the Friendship List series, the Pink & Green trilogy, and several other novels for tweens and teens. A graduate of the New School’s MFA program in writing for children, she lives in New York City with her husband, daughters, and mini Bernedoodle, Kibbitz.

From the Back Cover

Cecily, Prianka, and Gabby—CPG4Eva—have been BFFAE since birth. So they’d rather chat about life and their first boy-girl party WITHOUT the new girl texting them all the time. They aren’t exactly mean to her. But they aren’t exactly nice.

To be honest, mistakes are made.

The question is, where do they go from here?

Reviews

Gr 4–7—Told mostly through emoji-laced text messages, TBH (to be honest) follows the sixth grade school year of three good friends, Prianka, Gabrielle, and Cecily. Their perfect friendship is disrupted by the arrival of Victoria, a new girl desperate to fit in. While Gabrielle and Prianka do not intentionally exclude Victoria, they consistently brush off Cecily's requests to include her, and never respond to her group texts. Their days are full of homework, crushes, a co-ed party, Gabrielle's possible move, and the upcoming Valentine's Day dance. But after Victoria's mother emails the principal about social cruelty and exclusion, the dance is canceled. Parents download an app to monitor their children's text messages, the girls fight, and, eventually, everyone learns important lessons about kindness, friendship, and spending too much time on their phones. Prianka and a boy named Vishal are the only explicitly non-white characters. Readers familiar with Hindu culture will recognize references to Bal Vishar. The characters in each text exchange are notated by their first initials at the beginning of the entry, which can create some confusion. The finished book will be in two colors which should help with tracking and make the emojis easier to see. While timely, the characters remain flat and the theme feels tacked onto a rather slight story line. Fans of the format, however, may be willing to overlook the book's flaws. VERDICT A supplemental purchase for larger tween collections.—Suzanne Myers Harold, Astoria Public Library, OR

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 0062689908
• ISBN 13: 9780062689900
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 224