Just Another Girl: A Novel

by Melody Carlson

Aster Flynn is stuck. She has to spend all of her "free" time with her younger sister, Lily, who, though fifteen, is mentally handicapped. At age seventeen, Aster should be hanging out with friends, dating boys, and working at a fun job. But her dad's MIA, her mom is always at work, and her older sister Rose is too self-centered to give her any help. It's not that Aster doesn't love Lily--it's just that for once she'd like to be able to be a normal teenager. So when a cute popular guy seems to take an interest in her, Aster hatches a plan. Somehow she has to get her workaholic mom and deadbeat dad to be the parents Lily needs so that Aster can have a life of her own. But can she ever get her parents to start acting like adults? Is this new guy worth the trouble? And, most importantly, will Lily get hurt in the process? With its real-life characters and struggles, Just Another Girl will immediately draw teen girls in. Author Melody Carlson knows how to write to girls just where they are.

• ISBN10: 080073257X
• ISBN13: 9780800732578
• Publish Date: 1 January 2009
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 8 January 2016
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
• Imprint: Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 224
• Language: English

Reviews

[cherryblossommj]

As far as teen fiction goes, even including other books and series from Melody Carlson herself, this is the absolute best book that I have ever had the experience to be exposed to. It is just fabulous and if I could afford it, I would buy every single teenage girl I know a copy for keeps.

Aster is "just another girl". She is 17 years old, middle child of two sisters, and about to start her senior year. Normal right? Then throw in that her older sister is beyond materialistic, her dad is a no-show, and her mom a work-a-holic. Still fairly normal, just slightly rough on the edges. Then if one also considers that her younger sister is hitting her teenage years will the body to prove it, but the mentality of a five year old left over from a birth complication and the fact that she is her full responsibility makes things even a little more difficult.


Being a teenager can be hard. I know that I would never want to go back to be seventeen. That is just an area in my life that I did not enjoy. Reading this book, I am inspired. I can see the scenes and easily visualize that situations. Aster is surrounded by the teenagers that seem to have never made a mistake and she is also surrounded by those that seem to make mistakes on purpose. Everything that occurs in her story is something that any girl could find herself involved in. A part of myself feels very influenced by Aster, knowing that if she can survive such a thing, then my issues really might be manageable as well.

I highly recommend that parents and teenage girls step into Aster's life and spend a couple days understanding what it is like to be "just another girl".