Bass Ackwards and Belly Up - Softcover

Craft, Elizabeth; Fain, Sarah

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0316057940 ISBN 13: 9780316057943

Publisher: Poppy, 2007

Synopsis

For readers of the New York Times bestselling Gossip Girl and A-List series, here is a smart and highly commercial first novel about four best friends who, after graduating high school, decide to postpone the standard college route to pursue their creative dreams.

Harper Waddle, Sophie Bushell, and Kate Foster are about to commit the ultimate suburban sin--bailing on college to each pursue their dreams: write the next Great American Novel, make it as a Hollywood actress, and backpack around the world. Middlebury-bound Becca Winsberg is convinced her friends have gone insane...until they remind her she just might have a dream of her own. So what if their lives are bass ackwards and belly up? They'll always have each other.

Harper is going to be the next Jane Austen. Or Sylvia Plath. Or Plum Sykes. Figuring out which should be easy. It?s living with the lie she told her three best friends that?s going to be hard.

Kate doesn?t know exactly what she wants. But whatever it is, she won?t find it at Harvard. Maybe the answer is in Paris, or Athens? or anywhere Kate can be someone besides the girl with perfect grades, perfect hair, and the perfect boyfriend.

Sophie is a star. She?s already got the looks, the talent, and a list of demands for her dressing room. Now that she?s wrangled a furnished guesthouse in Beverly Hills, it?s only a matter of time before she?s discovered. Unless she isn?t.

Becca is dysfunctional. At least, her family is. Which is why she can?t wait to flee the drama and get to college. But Becca?s friends know she needs more than a spot on the Middlebury ski team and a cozy dorm room. They know she needs to fall in love.

Dreams are complicated. They almost never turn out like you imagine?they almost always change. Sometimes, they change you.

About this title

About the Author:

Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain wrote their first piece together when they were fifteen - a feature on Kansas City delis for their high school newspaper. They now live in Los Angeles, where they've written for numerous television shows. They are currently Writer-Producers on the Emmy-award winning show The Shield. Bass Ackwards and Belly Up is their first novel, and they are currently working on the sequel, Footfree and Fancyloose, coming in September 2007.

From Booklist:

Gr. 8-11. After high-school senior Harper is rejected from NYU, the only school to which she applied, she is too ashamed to tell her friends and family. Instead, she announces that she rejected NYU, choosing instead to stay at home in Boulder, Colorado, to pursue her dream of writing. Her decision sparks an unexpected, explosive reaction in her three best friends, who decide to join the "Dream Train," too: Sophie heads to Hollywood to act; Becca flies to Middlebury College, where she will ski for a top coach; and Kate defers her Harvard admission (and the expectations of her high-achieving parents) to travel through Europe and discover herself. Alternating chapters follow the girls throughout their first months of independence, heartbreaks, upsetting setbacks, romance, sex (not explicitly detailed), and thrilling self-discovery. There are some far-fetched scenarios (Sophie dates an A-list Hollywood star) and some stereotypical characters (particularly Kate's parents), but many teens, particularly fans of Jodi Lynn Anderson's Peaches (2005), will delight vicariously in the brave journeys and fierce friendships. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Poppy
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0316057940
• ISBN 13: 9780316057943
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400