This is her first book for young adults by National Book Award nominee, Beth Kephart. I admit I was a bit intimidated to read this because the whole National Book Award thing made me think of "Literature" and I thought Undercover might be too serious for my tastes. Yes, it's serious. But it's also sweet, charming, sad, beautiful and ... just flat-out wonderful. ("Just flat-out wonderful" - do you think that's what the National Book Award folks said about Ms Kephart?)
Anyway, it's the story of Elisa who writes love notes for boys to give to the objects of their affection, but isn't so lucky in love herself. Her mother and sister are like two perfect peas in a pod, but Elisa is much more like her father. Her father who is working in San Francisco and who may not ever come home.
Things begin to change for Elisa when, first, she discovers a frozen pond (complete with an underwater
statue of a girl reading a book), and then Theo Moses asks her to write a love note for Lila, the most popular girl in the school. Even after Theo has won Lila, he persists in hanging around Elisa, but she has no idea why. Surely he can't like her?
Whether writing poetry, skating, talking to Theo, missing her father, or worrying about her parents' marriage, Elisa is ... I was about to write "sweet" then, but then I let out a huge sigh. She's not "sweet". She's lovely, but she's also wise and sad and full of repressed emotion*. I loved her and wanted everything to work out for her.
Read this beautiful book to see if it does.
Rating: 5/5
Like this? Try Bloom by Elizabeth Scott
*Have you ever watched David Duchovny's show, Californication? I can see the daughter, Becca, as Elisa.
