“In Zanesville” by Jo Ann Beard Book Review

“In Zanesville” by Jo Ann Beard is a book that you must add to your summer reading list. This is a book about a young teenager in a small town in the 1970’s. She is on a journey to discover who she really is, but we all know how tough the teen years can be.

I felt like this book hit the feelings of an early teen girl right on. It was like a flashback to my younger days (though I was a little more reserved) and how difficult those years can be. You couldn’t pay me to go back to high school. I have no desire. Of course there were good things, but teenagers go through so many emotions and that’s not worth reliving for me.

From Amazon:

The beguiling fourteen-year-old narrator of IN ZANESVILLE is a late bloomer. She is used to flying under the radar-a sidekick, a third wheel, a marching band dropout, a disastrous babysitter, the kind of girl whose Eureka moment is the discovery that "fudge" can't be said with an English accent.

Luckily, she has a best friend, a similarly undiscovered girl with whom she shares the everyday adventures of a 1970s American girlhood, incidents through which a world is revealed, and character is forged.

In time, their friendship is tested-- by their families' claims on them, by a clique of popular girls who stumble upon them as if they were found objects, and by the first, startling, subversive intimations of womanhood.
With dry wit and piercing observation, Jo Ann Beard shows us that in the seemingly quiet streets of America's innumerable Zanesvilles is a world of wonders, and that within the souls of the awkward and the overlooked often burns something radiant and unforgettable.

I think women will enjoy this book especially. You will be able to relate in some way to the young girl in this book. The book is easy to get into, and I’m sure you will fly through it quickly as I did. “In Zanesville” by Jo Ann Beard is available in bookstores as well as online.


*Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for my review. All opinions are my own.*