Daphne Durham: Audacious author Lauren Myracle accomplishes something of a literary miracle in her second young-adult novel, ttyl (Internet instant messaging shorthand for "talk to you later"), as she crafts an epistolary novel entirely out of IM transcripts between three high-school girls.
Far from being precious, the format proves perfect for accurately capturing the sweet histrionics and intimate intricacies of teenage girls. Grownups (and even teenage boys) might feel as if they've intercepted a raw feed from Girl Secret Headquarters, as the book's three protagonists--identified by their screen names "SnowAngel," "zoegirl," and "mad maddie"--tough their way through a rough-and-tumble time in high school. Conversations range from the predictable (clothes, the delicate high-school popularity ecosystem, boys, boys in French class, boys in Old Navy commercials, etc.) to the the jarringly explicit (the girls discuss female ejaculation: "some girls really do, tho. i read it in our bodies, ourselves") and the unintentionally hilarious (Maddie's IM reduction of the Christian poem "Footprints"--"oh, no, my son. no, no, no. i was carrying u, don't u c?").
But Myracle's triumph in ttyl comes in leveraging the language-stretching idiom of e-mail, text messaging, and IM. Reaching to express themselves, the girls communicate almost as much through punctuation and syntactical quirks as with words: "SnowAngel: 'cuz--drumroll, please--ROB TYLER is in my french class!!! *breathes deeply, with hand to throbbing bosom* on friday we have to do "une dialogue" together. i get to ask for a bite of his hot dog.'"
Myracle already proved her command of teenage girl-ness with Kissing Kate, but the self-imposed convention of ttyl allows a subtlety that is even more brilliant. Parents might like reading the book just to quantify how out of touch they are, but teens will love the winning, satisfyingly dramatic tale of this tumultuous trio. (Ages 13 to 17) --Paul Hughes
Book Description: The runaway bestseller now in paperback!
An epistolary novel for the 21st century, this sharp, funny, and true-to-life breakout hit about friendship is told entirely in instant messages. And Internet-savvy teens have fallen in love with flirty Angela (SnowAngel), moody Maddie (mad maddie), and good girl Zoe (zoegirl) and their frank perceptions about a tumultuous tenth-grade semester. Now perfectly priced for its audience, the paperback is being released alongside Myracle's brand-new hardcover novel, Rhymes with Witches. AUTHOR BIO: In addition to ttyl, Lauren Myracle is the author of three other novels, including her latest, Rhymes with Witches. She holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College and lives in Colorado.
When I first heard about this book, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. The very idea of an entire book written in chatspeak offended me. So I had to take a look and see if it was really as awful as I feared.
"it gets worse. cuz then rob strolls up, and i was like, 'sounds like u had a good time saturday nite. u could have called me, u know.' and tonnie goes, 'he wanted to, but i told him not to.' i said, 'oh yeah, sure,' and rob said, 'really, angie, i was punching in your number and everything, and tonnie said to bag it. She said it would just bum u out to know that we were having such a blast without you.'" (p. 45)
What really gets me is that in school libraries across the nation, people are challenging excellent books like And Tango Makes Three for "promoting" homosexuality or Whale Talk from "promoting" bad language. No one's going after ttyl for promoting chatspeak. We have some really messed-up priorities in this country when people are completely comfortable with horning in on someone else's philosophy, but couldn't care less about their literacy. (zero)
Missing something, but still awesome I loved the book although a bunch of the details were left such as the girls day to day to life seeing as they only talk in instant message form which was a breathe of fresh air if you ask me. Its about Angela, Maddie, and Zoe and their dramas of 10th grade life. Angela's drama is boy related and she needs a little soyjoy! haha! Maddie has it worst with her drunken partying. And then Zoe's drama including a religious sex crazed teacher is just plain creepy. Still a lot of fun to read!
Quick read - kids will enjoy My daughters read this book and found it a quick read and enjoyable. I read it and found it of little interest, however I could understand how the day to day drama of a few teenagers might appeal to some teens and preteens. I found little objectionable material or topics.
This is not a must read, however it might make a nice gift since it will very likely be read.
This author's other books, specifically L8R is an "R" rated book and should be avoided.
Terrible book The opitomy of sexualizing our youth, what at joke. Good luck justifying this garbage.
Courtesy of Teens Read Too TTYL by Lauren Myracle is a young adult book written entirely in computer IM language. The change in colors and fonts for each of the three girls make it easy to read, and the presentation and voice are both highly appealing to the teen reader.
Snow Angel, Mad Maddie, and Zoegirl have been best friends for, like, four years. This is the story of their friendship and their commitment to be there for one another, no matter what. Like when Snow Angel finds her true love (not the same one from a couple of weeks earlier), and falls apart when he cruelly dumps her. Like when Mad Maddie, in an effort to try to be in the "it" crowd, goes to a party, gets drunk, and finds herself in the middle of an Internet scandal as a result. Like when Zoegirl trusts the wrong teacher and finds herself in hot water.
Over and over, the girls come through for one another, even if they are in the middle of a fight. The emotions and relationships are real and the dialogue is cutting edge. The reader will most likely identify with at least one of the girls. You'll care for them so much you'll feel great relief when they bail each other out of one predicament after another.
This was a fun read and I can't wait to read the next books in this series.
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