I've been putting together a column on "bookish girls" for August - one of those columns that the reading suddenly seems to dictate. I stack and restack books all the time trying to figure out the best way to categorize them for my Bookslut column and realized about a month ago that it seemed like several of the books I had read were all about similar girls in dissimilar circumstances, so I'm putting them all together in the hopes that they will be discovered in this different light. The Glow Stone by Ellen Dreyer seems like a family drama (and it certainly is as it deals with the death of a beloved uncle and concern for a grieving mother), but as soon as the narrator, 15 year old Phoebe, referred to her rocks and minerals guide I knew I was in for something very very different. Phoebe is a major rock hound, it's the main thing that tied her to her uncle Bradford, and she knows more about geology than most adults let alone teenagers.

So this was not going to be your typical teen novel, that's for sure.

There is no reading in The Glow Stone - it is not a classic bookish novel in that sense, but Phoebe loves rocks and enters into a caving adventure that ultimately reveals far more about her uncle and herself then it does about geology (although Dreyer keeps the geology references going and clearly is familiar with her underground setting). Originally I thought this was a family drama book, maybe even a coming of age YA novel, but the more I read her about Phoebe the more I thought she was a great bookish heroine. Phoebe collects rocks everywhere (there's a great bit about the Museum of Natural History in the beginning and how she saves her allowance to buy rocks in the gift shop), and she knows them - she studies them and learns about them. Then she takes this knowledge and goes caving with her aunt. She is a bookish girl who is also brave and resourceful and smart - the best sort of YA heroine as far as I'm concerned. And as someone who barely passed college geology (I'll admit to that D right now), I really wish this book had been around a few years ago. I never fell for the passion of rocks when I was in school, but I can see now why someone would. The Glow Stone is a great book with a great heroine (and a very touching story as well). She might not seem bookish at first, but I think she will fit right in with my other book loving girls. August is shaping up to be a very cool column.