Hamilton Literary Awards Program, 2007 - Mixed Media Award for Young Adult Book
Beauty's back-with a bound!
Liz and her best friend Alicia are determined: this year, no boys! It doesn't take long, though, before Liz falls off the wagon. She's irresistibly drawn to Kyle, and Kyle is drawn to Liz-dragged to her, actually, by Beauty Two, who is so glad to see her old friend that she starts to forget the finer points of her dog guide training. Kyle doesn't care. Every time he hears Liz's voice, he feels like he's flying.
But the reasons for Kyle and Liz to stay away from each other just keep piling up. Kyle's got a teacher with a grudge who's loading him down with work. Liz's parents think she's too young, and sneaking around behind their backs certainly doesn't make her feel mature. As for Beauty, she needs correction, or she'll be taken away; and that, Kyle just can't stand to think about. Whatever happens, he knows his future depends on having Beauty by his side.
The final book in the trilogy of Elizabeth and Beauty, her seeing eye dog, will have you in tears-of laughter and of pain.
"There are many important issues that McNicoll touches on in this novel: teen-age pregnancy, academic honesty, dealing with loss, coping with blindness, family relationships, abuse. . . All of the details and events intertwine in a way that is believable. . . It is one complication after another that leads to a surprisingly moving conclusion.
"Rated: Good to Excellent! "
-- Resource Links
McNicoll knows exactly how to get inside the modern teen psyche and move the story along briskly as the action rises from the trivialities of fashion and matters of the heart to the larger themes of life and death.
-- CITY Parent, January 2007
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