23) Ditched: A Love Story

Bibliography: Mellom, Robin; Ditched: A Love Story; Hyperion Books; New York; 2012; 275 pages; ISBN 978-142314338-3.

Plot: Justina is left on the side of the road the morning after her junior prom.  At first she can’t remember what happened to make her end up in a ditch.  As she starts to get her bearings, she realizes that she is close to a 7-Eleven.  She figures that the employee working at the gas station will at least let her use the phone.  At 7-Eleven Justina is greeted by Gilda, who decides to take pity on her and asks what happened to her.  Slowly Justina tells the story of her junior prom and how she ended up ditched on the side of the road.

Review:  This book is super funny.  Justina takes the reader on a trip through her prom night and readers will be laughing at all of the predicaments she finds herself in.

The book begins with Justina on the side of a road unable to remember how she got there and what led up to her being left on the side of the road.  She slowly begins to remember things and realizes she knows just where she is.  “I suppose if I have to get ditched somewhere, I’m glad it’s at this 7-Eleven, not the sucky 7-Eleven near downtown.”  At this awesome 7-Eleven she is greeted by worker Gilda, who is willing to lend an ear and some food.  Justina starts her story at the beginning; how she even decided to go to prom.

Justina’s story is funny and at times unbelievable, while at the same time extremely believable.  Justina and her best friend, Ian, decide to go to prom together.  Over the last few months, Justina has developed feelings for Ian and feels that prom night is the perfect time to let him know.  She plans out how she will get him alone to test out his kissing.  She wants to know which kissing category Ian belongs in, since she believes this is how you can tell if a boy is boyfriend material.  However, from the minute Ian picks up Justina for the prom disaster strikes.  She ends up with curry on her dress before the two even get out of her house.

The story revolves around the disaster of a dress that Justina is wearing the next morning.  The chapters are titled after the various stains and happenings that bring Justina to the end of the night at 7-Eleven telling her story to Gilda.

The downfall of this book is Ian.  While Mellom has created a great character in Justina, Ian is lacking.  Despite the constant reminder of Justina’s feelings for Ian, I couldn’t see why she was in love with him.  I wish that more time would have been spent on creating a character that would seem worthy of the books quirky narrator.

Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction/Humor

Interest Level: age 12 and up

Related Books: Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett; The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks; Princess Mia by Meg Cabot.

Author Information: http://www.robinmellom.com/about/