I have been a fan of Cecil Castellucci's since I reviewed her first book, Boy Proof, for Eclectica a couple of years ago. I follwed that up by reviewing The Queen of Cool last winter at Bookslut and have just finished her third title, Beige, which is due out this June. I'm not going to give a full detailed review here because it really wouldn't be fair but I will say that I plan to include Beige in my June column which is shaping up to be the great big "Get Your Beach Blanket Reading List Here Girls!" column. (I have a ton of great sounding titles for teen girls due out by June and just couldn't resist the lure of an anti-assigned summer reading list.)

I do want to say though that Cecil continues a trend in Beige, not only by writing very strong believable teen girl protagonists, but also by including blissfully normal parents. Now when I say normal I don't mean in their jobs, (the parents in Beige are an anthropologist doing research in Peru and a punk rock drummer who is still a busy musician), but in their attitudes towards their children. They love their kids - they might not always do the exact right thing and they know they aren't perfect, but first and foremost they love their kids. Beyond that, they aren't stupid. These are talented, creative, wholly individual adults who are living lives that might box them in for a little while (see The Queen of Cool), but they persevere and never sink into self pity or the dreaded "we're too old to care" abysmal attitude. They are smartly written and act smart and it is so lovely - so incredibly lovely - to actually read YA titles that don't have idiotic adult characters.

I mean really, not every teenager hates their parents. (Reason again why I shall always love My So-Called Life and will forever recall The Gilmore Girls fondly even though it has hopelessly jumped the shark.) But a lot of YA authors (and I do mean alot) can't resist the urge of writing dead parents, divorced and pissed off parents, abusive parents, blissfully ignorant parents, tragically unhip parents or just plain abundantly stupid parents into their stories. That's not the way it is for most of us, but in some made-up teenage world of fiction, it seems to be. Cecil doesn't play that game and I'm ever so grateful to her for that.

Beyond all the parents stuff, Beige is about not one but two very cool, very complex, very complicated young girls. One has no clue who she is, the other is impatient to be who she wants to be and both of them have a summer of gigantic life changing experiences in the book. My favorite parts include a very wonderful moment of female power in a music store (Melissa Etheride, Cecil - you didn't include Melissa Etheridge!!!) and also two separate but soulful teenage manifestos that alot of us adult women should be willing to embrace. I'm not the first to say it's another winner but I will congratulate Cecil on making it look easy, yet again. Do a favor for your favorite 15 year old and buy her the Cecil Castellucci collection. Trust me, she will be eternally grateful.