Discount Price: $8.99
Price fluctuation possible.
How soon does it ship: Normal ship time within one day
Shipping? Absolutely FREE if you qualify for Super Saver Shipping.
Type of bind: Paperback
EAN num: 9780142405703
ISBN number: 0142405701
Label: Puffin
Manufacturer: Puffin
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 224
Printing Date: February 02, 2006
Publishing house: Puffin
Age index: Young Adult
Sale Popularity Level: 176675
Studio: Puffin
Other books you might be interested in perusing:
Editor's Notes and Comments:
Brief Book Summary:
Philadelphia high school who doesn’t care about the prom. It’s pretty much the only good thing that happens there, and everyone plans to make the most of it—especially Ash’s best friend, Natalia, who’s the head of the committee and has prom stars in her eyes. Then the faculty advisor is busted for taking the prom money and Ash finds herself roped into putting together a gala dance. But she has plenty of help—from her large and loving (if exasperating!) family, from Nat’s eccentric grandmother, from the principal, from her fellow classmates. And in making the prom happen, Ash learns some surprising things about making her life happen, too.
Amazon.com:
Ages 12 and up. Who would have thought the author of the gritty classic Speak had a gift for comedy? Here she demonstrates her comedic talent in the warm and witty story of Ashley, who is definitely not a prom-type person, and her best friend Nat, who lives for the prom. When the math teacher disappears with the funds just eleven days before the dance, determined and organized Nat goes into high gear to find alternative ways to make the prom happen and drags an unwilling Ashley into the flurry of urgent details.
Ashley has enough problems in her life already, starting with the complexities of her crowded but loving working class family -- her extremely pregnant mother and her three exuberant and prom-crazy aunts, and her cab-driving father and three younger brothers, who think nothing of happily trashing the kitchen in a game of hot dog baseball. Then there’s Mr. Gilroy, the evil vice principal of discipline, who has Ashley on endless detention, her awful job at EZ-CHEEZ-E, where she has trouble seeing the customers through the eyeholes of her rat costume, and her good-looking but lowlife boyfriend TJ, who wants her to join him in a future as depressing as the dank one-room apartment he has so proudly rented for them. Not to speak of Nat’s loony grandmother, who wears her blue bathing cap even when she’s not doing the backstroke in a wading pool, babbles at Ashley in Russian, and spits on the floor to show her disapproval.
But in the end it’s grandma with her skill at baking (pastries to bribe the custodians) and sewing (a magical prom dress) who saves both the prom and Ashley’s belief in herself and her future in this delightful and heartfelt novel. --Patty Campbell
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
-
The last thing Ashley Hannigan wants to do is go to her prom. It's not important. High school is not her favorite place. She wants to be done with school and move in with her boyfriend and start their life together. But she hasn't told her family that, plus she doesn't know if she can really trust her boyfriend. She has two brothers and her mom, a bus driver, is expecting another. Her dad's major project is to turn their basement into a bedroom for Ashley. He likes to take on big projects that never seem to get finished. Just one crazy loud family. Natalia, Ashley's best friend, lives subsequent door. She is head of the Prom Committee and thinks, eats, and breathes prom! Her grandma doesn't speak English and wanders around the neighborhood usually ending up at Ashley's house making herself right at home with a can of Spaghetti-O's or in a fountain somewhere taking a swim. When the prom funds are stolen and there is a chance that there won't be a prom, unlikely Ashley steps in to help Natalia. She doesn't know why but in the end she gets a lot out of Project Prom. This book is a quick read. The style it's written in is easy going. It wasn't a book I thought I'd enjoy, not the genre I prefer but I liked it. Try reading it for yourself, it will surprise you. I think Natalia's grandmother was the smartest cookie in the whole book.
Rated by buyers -
I purchased 5 copies of this book for my middle school classroom because Anderson is such a popular author among my female students. It was only after purchasing these books through Barnes and Nobel that I read the 1-star reviews on Amazon.com. The warnings of drugs, sex, and drinking made the book sound like a romance novel and because of that I did not want to put the books out on my shelves until I read the book for myself.
I have now read the book and I have to say that those who are upset about the content of the book have either not read modern young adult lit. and/or have not watched prime time TV the past few years. Yes, there are brief--and I mean brief--mentions of the "sins" I previously stated but Anderson does not go into ANY detail. I kept reading and waiting for the horrible smut that the 1-star reviewers warned me about but I got to the last page and I still hadn't found it.
This is not Anderson's best book but it is a good book and I think it is totally suitable for middle school students. (I would steer it a bit more towards 8th graders rather than 6th graders, though, since the main charcter is in high school. Sixth graders wouldn't relate too well to the main character.)
Rated by buyers -
I'm a big fan of Laurie Halse Anderson's novels, but (like most YA authors) she usually writes about teens who are in some way unusual or extraordinary. This is hardly a bad thing, of course, because it makes for an interesting story -- but here, she creates the most ordinary of characters, and makes them remarkable.
The story is set in a rough, working-class Philadelphia school, where most of the students have little money, and only modest ambitions for the future. Over the course of the novel, the main characters find unexpected resources within themselves and their community, having a few adventures along the way. The conflicts -- students versus teachers, cliques versus cliques, girlfriends versus boyfriends -- are all handled with sensitivity and humour.
Rated by buyers 
-
The main character in this book is Ashley Hannigan. She is 18 and has a boyfriend named TJ, who is 19. She is attending Carceras High School, and is graduating this year. She plans to move into an apartment with TJ shortly after, because she cant stand living with her parents. She works at EZ-CHEESE-Z, wearing a rat costume. She has 3 brothers, Shawn (12), Billy (4), and Steven (10). She has a best friend at school named Nat. Nat is on the prom committee. One day in Math class, their teacher Miss Crane is not having a good day. She had been bitchy for the past couple of weeks. They thought maybe she had gotten dumped or someone in her family had died, obviously something bad had been happening. Miss Crane was giving her students a test that counted 40% of their grade, when Mr. Banks (The principle) knocked on the door. The class knew Mr. Banks was going to ask Miss Crane to step into the hall, which meant no more test. When he asked Miss Crane to step out into the hallway, she didn't move. A police woman came in the room and escorted her out. Nat was the only one who knew what was going on and while everyone else screamed, cheered, and danced around, she sat there not saying a word. At lunch Nat told Ashley why Miss Crane had to be questioned, it was because she had been stealing the prom money. This meant their would be no prom. To Ashley, the prom wasn't important, but she knew that Nat and everyone else were really excited about it. Nat and Ashley (even though she didn't like dances) decided to help and set up a prom for everyone at the school, considering they didn't have the money to rent a hotel, they would have it in the GYM.
Many people thought it was stupid, but at least there was going to be a prom. It wasn't going very well, without money they couldn't afford anything. The kids hated having to buy tickets again, even if they were only $10. Only thirteen people had bought tickets so far. Ashley, her family, and Nat went to the mall to buy prom decorations. Ashley's mom took her to a dress store and bought her a brand new dress, even though they couldn't afford it. Somehow Ashley's dress had gotten into the washing machine and was ruined. Her mom was heartbroken, she thought she had ruined the chance for Ashley to go to the prom, but she didn't. Ashley couldn't go to the prom because she had cut class and had skipped to many detentions. Nat's grandmother had made Ashley another dress. Her family (mom and aunts) got her ready. Before the prom started Nat's grandmother went missing. They figured she would be at the prom so that's the very first place they checked. Ashley decided to sneak into the prom. She was having a blast (she even danced) until she got arrested. Since the judge and her mom used to go to high school together they decided to drop all the charges. Her and TJ broke up for good and she moved in with Nat paying rent to Nat's father.
Rated by buyers -
when you get to the middle it gets better. i wrote anderson about this book becasue i was pleased with it. you will be too.
Find other books like this one:
