All's Fair in Love War and High School--Janette Rallison

A new and (hopefully) recurring feature on my blog will be a split mom/child review or mom/teen review. (At least until my kids get bored with this and/or I run out of bribes and threats.) Besides my own kids I have some great teen reviewers lined up to help me with this part of my blog.

During my ANWA conference this fall I met a great Young Adult author named Janette Rallison. She became one of my heroes immediately because 1) She has written and sold a lot of books while being a mom. 2) She's really funny and easy to relate to, and her stories are funny, clean and easy to relate to. 3) My daughter adores her books.

I came home from the conference with an armload of Janette's books and my daughter whipped through them in a few weeks. (Luckily she got two more from her aunt for Christmas.)

When my daughter had to do a book review for her Literature class, she chose Janette's ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE, WAR, AND HIGH SCHOOL. After reading her review I decided I needed to read the book too, (she was that persuasive), and that it would be a good book to dual review on my blog.

First my daughter's review:

The book “All’s Fair in Love, War, and High School” by Janette Rallison is a hilarious story about a snobby cheerleader named Samantha who bombs the SAT’s. In desperation to get into a decent college she runs for student body president. As if her life wasn’t stressful enough, her annoying ex-boyfriend makes a bet with her that she can’t go three weeks without insulting someone.

I recommend this book to any girl between the ages of 12 to 16. I think this is the perfect age group because it is a romantic comedy. I also recommend any Janette Rallison books to girls between those ages who don’t enjoy reading. Although I love to read, I have a friend who doesn’t. I recommended this and a few other Janette Rallison books to her and now she just can’t stop.

I absolutely loved this book. I love the sense of humor, the story line, and the characters. This was such a fun book to read.

I wish there was a sequel. After I had finished I was so sad because I felt like the characters were my friends. This is a great book to read for pleasure.

Isn't my daughter brilliant? I love that she recommends books to her friends, I especially love that she is helping a friend get into reading (job security for me).

Now the mom review:

I agree with my daughter, this is a fun book. It's funny and the characters are definitely easy to like and relate to. I remember Janette Rallison talking about this book at my ANWA conference. She said it was hard to make a snobby blond cheerleader likable, but she did a great job. I love that the main character, Samantha, learned her lesson about being critical and judgmental of the kids around her.

This book is squeaky clean. I'm so thrilled to say that. There is no sex, violence, or bad language at all. In fact, Rallison has has fun way of keeping the language clean and still real. One of my favorite lines from the book comes when Samantha's mom makes Samantha and her boyfriend take the cat to the vet on their way to a date.

While he was waiting for the light to turn green Brad glanced over at me. "The frisky cat is on your head!"

Actually, I'm not sure if "frisky" was the adjective he used, but the word definitely began with an "f". (Rallison, 16)

That line made me laugh out loud, actually a lot of lines and situations in this book made me laugh out loud.

Questions to discuss with your kids after reading this book:

What did Samantha learn from her bet with Logan?

What did she learn about honesty during the election?

And since this is such a funny book, What do you think was the funniest part of the story?

Reading books with your kids doesn't always have to bring out a big serious discussion. Sometimes it can be just for the joy of sharing a story you both enjoy.

This is a fun book with a good message about judging others and working through your problems. I loved reading it with my daughter. I loved that this was a book I could let her read without being afraid of of the content.

ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE, WAR AND HIGH SCHOOL, is a fun, clean, romantic comedy. It is a book that teaches a lesson, but mostly it's just for fun. I would recommend this book for any girl ages 11 and up. (I'm definitely "up" from 11 and I enjoyed it.)

Now, I want you to think about your favorite, funny book that you read as a kid. Now go share it with your kids. If you're a teen, share your favorite funny book with your parents, or a friend. (And share it with me while you are at it, I'm always looking for something fun to read.)