- Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins Canada / Trophy Jr Pape; Reprint edition (April 27 2005)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0060515481
- ISBN-13: 978-0060515485
- Product Dimensions: 18 x 12.7 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 204 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
This is one YA novel that can be read and enjoyed by readers of any age. With characters that leap off the page and humour that borders on the hysterical, Susan Juby crosses the line between adult and young adult, even as her main character, Alice MacLeod, 16, is making her own valiant attempt to leave childhood behind. It is anything but a smooth transition. Miss Smithers, like its popular predecessor, Alice, I Think, consists entirely of Alice's diary entries and her short journal pieces (she's a budding reporter). The storyline is straightforward: Alice, the daughter of vegetarian parents and sister of nerdy 11-year-old MacGregor, is enticed to enter the Miss Smithers Pageant in her home town of Smithers, B.C., by the $400 clothing allowance, which she immediately blows on a pair of leather pants. Alice is to represent the local Rod & Gun Club against 13 other participants including Miss Evelyn Station Fish Hatchery and Miss Chicken Creek Fire Department. Juby perfectly captures the wry and desperate humour of a teenager, as when Alice's mother "made the birthday cake with sugar rather than the usual cane-juice, in flagrant defiance of hippie vegetarian dietary laws. Will the good times never end?" Meanwhile, Alice has broken up with her bumbling boyfriend, Goose, and her best friend has lost her virginity. While this delightful novel has many good moments, the highlight is a fashion show in which one shy contestant models a skimpy bikini crocheted by the Ladies' Auxiliary Society. Altogether, this is a believable story with characters that feel fully alive. --Mark Frutkin
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up–Alice MacLeod, 16, had been homeschooled since being pulled out of first grade for thinking she was a hobbit. Now she attends alternative school, and describes herself as "a total misfit," so she is understandably surprised when the Smithers Rod and Gun Club asks her to be their representative for the local beauty pageant. She keeps a diary of all of her school and pageant misadventures, including cantankerous descriptions of her hippie parents, friends, and fellow contestants. Alice's meanderings through a religious group, alcohol experimentation, and fruitless hopes for a first sexual encounter seem contrived for their shock value. Although she is certainly intelligent and insightful (with a very sharp cutting edge), she never seems to understand that she's her own worst enemy until the end. By that point, it's too little too late, and readers will have trouble caring if she gets it or not. She seems to veer from one ridiculous or dangerous situation to the next, and blames much of it on everybody else (sometimes correctly, but often not). Despite its wit and spearing of inane beauty contests, teens will have trouble finding this book's heart, or Alice's.–Paula J. LaRue, Van Wert City Schools, OH
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A quirky fast read,
By "canadianbookloverchick" (Never, Never Land) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Miss Smithers (Paperback)
I found this book and was drawn to the cover because it was just so bright and beautiful. I didn't read the first one in this book but i wasn't confused with out it. Alice, is a teen who is just trying to become normal, this is really hard for her because her mom is a feminist/hippie and her dad is a soft core romance novalist. She starts out by entering this Miss Smithers Contest. (She is actually the normalist person there) This book was a very fun/funny book to read. (I can't help being a little bit biased over this book cause i myself am Canadian)
5.0 out of 5 stars
very funny,
By BC Gal (Northern BC) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Miss Smithers (Paperback)
The book caught my attention because of the bright green cover, but I bought it because an author on the cover was quoted saying, "I laughed until my diet soda came out my nose". I didn't quite snort soda but this book made me laugh out loud. I read it in one sitting. Also it was really cool to have my hometown mentioned in the book (Prince Rupert). The way Juby wrote about teen issuse, parents, small-town life, etc was dead on, I had a ball reading it.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews) 4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
very funny,
By BC Gal - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Miss Smithers (Paperback)
The book caught my attention because of the bright green cover, but I bought it because an author on the cover was quoted saying, "I laughed until my diet soda came out my nose". I didn't quite snort soda but this book made me laugh out loud. I read it in one sitting. Also it was really cool to have my hometown mentioned in the book (Prince Rupert). The way Juby wrote about teen issuse, parents, small-town life, etc was dead on, I had a ball reading it.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Unusual...,
By Huntress Reviews - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Miss Smithers (Library Binding)
Alice McLeod is offered four hundred dollars to represent the local gun club in the Miss Smithers competition. Four hundred dollars to spend on clothes is a dream come true, especially when she imagines being able to stretch it all the local versions of Good Will or the Salvation Army. Added bonuses are she will get an inside scoop for the paper she produces and horrify her parents who strongly disapprove of the blatant anti feminism of a beauty contest and the principals inherent in a shooting club.There are enough events in the contest to assure that almost anyone can score well in one or two of them. Yet, it is not the contest that will be the most educational for Alice. The reactions and politics that enter her life as she comes under the spotlight are a revelation. She will get fashion advice from bikers, find herself in a fight with supposedly respectable young women, and shock her parents by converting to a Christian lifestyle and chastity. While there can be only one queen, Alice finds there can be several winners. *** Miss Smithers is unusual. Its satirical look at life is told from a first person point of view. While some scenes are difficult to imagine, that does not detract from their realism. Alice is in her own version of wonderland, strange but possibly true. *** Reviewed by Amanda Killgore. 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A quirky fast read,
By "canadianbookloverchick" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Miss Smithers (Paperback)
I found this book and was drawn to the cover because it was just so bright and beautiful. I didn't read the first one in this book but i wasn't confused with out it. Alice, is a teen who is just trying to become normal, this is really hard for her because her mom is a feminist/hippie and her dad is a soft core romance novalist. She starts out by entering this Miss Smithers Contest. (She is actually the normalist person there) This book was a very fun/funny book to read. (I can't help being a little bit biased over this book cause i myself am Canadian)
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