Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer features well-developed characters driving a fairly predictable story about growing up. The story isn't developed enough for me to consider it a coming-of-age story, exactly, but I think it's worth recommending to the 12-15 or 16 y.o. set.
Bauer's language keeps the story moving, and the pace of things ramps up very nicely when it should - during action-sequences and other tense moments.
Not wanting to offer a major spoiler, here's the story in a nutshell: Sixteen-year-old Jenna Boller, in a self-diagnosed "slump," feels like her job (selling shoes at Gladstone's) is the only area of her life where she succeeds. When her alcoholic father returns to annoy her, and the about-to-retire Mrs. Gladstone asks Jenna to drive her to Texas for the annual shareholders' meeting, fate hands Jenna the keys to her future. From Chicago to Texas, Jenna learns she can handle the road, a few demons from her own past, and the challenge of the future. A new hairstyle in the process helps.
I don't mean to trivialize the book (or the power or the right hairstyle) but folks, this is a book for girls.
As an aspiring fiction writer, I'm keeping the book on my shelf because I think Bauer provides a good example of getting the pacing right. I'm also hoping my daughter will pick it up off the shelf. While the plot line seemed rather obvious to me and there are too many cliches for my liking, the fact is, that's OK in YA fiction. We grownups who read kid lit have to remember that when it seems obvious or cliched to us it may not be to our kids, who haven't read quite as much or for as long as we have.
Related links:
This Fun Trivia quiz about Rules of the Road was created for kids, but I enjoyed it (and you might too) as a way to test my tired old brain. (I did OK. How 'bout you?) And homeschoolers or teachers may appreciate this http://www.joanbauer.com/rulesguide/index.htm teaching guide, designed for 8th-9th graders.
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