Author: Louise Rennison
Publisher: Recorded Books
Copyright: 2001 (original 1999)
ASIN: B000BEVWJ8
Format: Audiobook
Reading Level/Interest Age: Grades 7-12
Genre: Romance--Chick Lit
Reader’s Annotation: Georgia takes lessons from a professional kisser, pines after the Sex God she met at the greengrocer's, and tries to prevent her enormous cat, Angus, from eating the poodle next door.
Plot Summary
Georgia begins her account with a recitation of her life’s woes, among them that she has recently humiliated herself by going to a party dressed as a stuffed olive. At 14 Georgia is appearance- and boy-obsessed, but she still enjoys “mad” childish antics with her girlfriends, such as breaking into the hut of the grumpy old groundskeeper at their school. She lives with her parents; her three-year-old sister, Libby; and her unusually large and fierce cat, Angus. Early on she meets Robbie, whom she dubs “the Sex God,” at the greengrocer’s. When Georgia discovers that he’s dating the idiotic Lindsey, she starts plotting to take Lindsey down. She first hopes to beat Lindsey in a tennis tournament (but is eliminated after an unfortunate flying-racquet incident) and later stalks Lindsey as she prepares for a date with Robbie. Without fully intending to, Georgia dates first a professional kisser and then a hooligan from down the street, and inadvertently earns Robbie’s scorn at every turn. The plot thickens—Georgia’s dad moves to New Zealand, where he hopes to make a new home for his family, and Georgia suspects her mom of having an affair with the interior decorator. Events reach a crisis when Angus goes missing.
Critical Evaluation
Angus is a satire in the vein of Bridget Jones’s Diary. Like Fielding, Rennison is a master of colorful characterization and is merciless in skewering her narrator. Georgia is ludicrously self-absorbed (as illustrated by a conversation in which she yells at her mom for marrying her dad, thus cursing Georgia with his outsized nose). She is also petty and thoughtless, but grows more likable as the book goes on. She is the only one of her group of friends to take a stand against the two wild girls in their class who are always roping them into risky behavior. She is also very affectionate toward her three-year-old sister, despite the little girl’s tendency to say embarrassing things and pee in Georgia’s room. Later on in the series many of the characters gain amusing epithets—the little sister is “Mad Libby” and Georgia’s rival is “Wet Lindsey.” In fact, what really distinguishes Angus from other humorous chick lit is Georgia’s unusual style. She uses a combination of British slang and her own invented vocabulary that sometimes makes her difficult to understand, but adds greatly to the humor of the book. (There is a helpful and hilarious glossary provided at the back of the book for those of us who are not British or 14.)
Stina Nielsen, the reader for the audiobook, gives a great performance. She expressively conveys Georgia’s frequent mood swings and provides many of the other characters with distinctive voices, too. My one complaint is that her accent isn’t from Northern England (as Georgia’s should be), but since that accent is often terribly difficult to understand, perhaps it’s for the best.
Curriculum Ties: N/A
Booktalking Ideas: Read excerpts from the glossary at the back of the book.
Challenge Issues: Mild sexual content
In the defense file, I will include my library's selection policy, ALA's Library Bill of Rights, ALA's guidelines on free access to libraries for minors (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/freeaccesslibraries.cfm), and ALA's strategies and tips for dealing with challenges to library materials (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips/index.cfm). I will also include my library's reconsideration form, in case challenges to this book cannot be defused with "tea and sympathy." I'll put in positive reviews (of the original book) from Booklist, VOYA, and Publisher's Weekly (which notes that for Rennison, no topic is sacred). I'll also include a lukewarm review from Children's Literature.
About the Author
Louise Rennison lives in Brighton, a place that she likes to think of as the San Francisco of the South Coast. Which is sad as it is nothing Like San Francisco, being mainly pebbles and large people in tiny swimming knickers who have gone bright red in the sun. Although she lives in Brighton in reality, in her mind she lives somewhere exotic with a manservant called Juan. This is because she lost her mind after Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging catapulted her into the spotlight of fame.
In her twenties, Louise lived in Notting Hill Gate, “in a one bedroomed flat owned by Roxy Music which was quite cheap… because five of us were sharing it.” After an assortment of jobs (playleader, dental nurse etc) and traveling, Louise rekindled a childhood dream and enrolled on a Performing Arts course in Brighton. However, as John Lennon famously wailed, ‘genius is pain’ and her career as a performance artist got off to a shaky start. After an audition in which Louise was asked to be an embryo, her tutor remarked, “You are obviously a very intelligent girl, Louise, but you must never go on stage again. Your performance made me feel physically sick.” Despite this, and displaying astonishing Northern grit, Louise continued to perform.
Her first one-woman autobiographical show, Stevie Wonder Felt My Face, won great acclaim and awards at the Edinburgh Festival in the 80s and millions watched the subsequent BBC2 special. Since then, Louise has continued to perform her own shows (Bob Marley’s Gardener Sold My Friend and Never Eat Anything Bigger Than Your Head.) She works frequently for Radio 4 being a regular contributor to Woman’s Hour and The John Peel Show. She has also written for and with many well-known comedians (and Russ Abbott).
Louise’s research for her books requires many hours hanging around with 14-year-olds which is, as she says, “Brilliant – the best fun known to humanity. It’s all boys, make-up, laughing and, er, that’s it.”
http://www.georgia-nicolson.co.uk/events/
Why is this title included?
Angus is the first in a popular ten-book series that teens are likely to read and reread. It's on many best-of lists, including Booklist Editors' Choice: Books for Youth, 2000; ALA Top 10 Youth First Novels, 2000; YALSA Best Books for Young Adults, 2001; and YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, 2001. It's also won several awards, including American Booksellers Book Sense Book of the Year (ABBY) Award, 2002 Finalist Children's Literature; and a Michael L. Printz Award Honor (2001).