ABSOLUTELY MAYBE
Lisa Yee
Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic
Fiction
ISBN: 9780439838443
288 pages
• About the Book
• Read an Excerpt
• Author Interview –– February 2009
Sixteen-year-old Maybelline Mary Katherine Mary Ann Chestnut is named after her mother Chessy’s favorite brand of mascara and two Miss Americas. Maybe and Chessy are quite different from each other. Maybe prefers to wear men’s XL Hanes Beefy t-shirts, baggy jeans and Goth makeup, and dyes her hair with Kool-Aid. Chessy owns Chessy Chestnut’s Charm School for Young Ladies, where she trains girls for beauty pageants.
To make matters worse, the clique that calls themselves “The Fantastic Five” --- the “prettiest, meanest, most popular girls” --- all attend the charm school. One day Maybe overhears them saying, “That Maybelline Chestnut, how is it that her mother’s such a beauty and she’s such a beast?”
Along with her addiction to all things beauty, Chessy has a fondness for getting married --- she’s on her way to husband #6 --- and drinking alcohol. But when something scary happens involving Maybe’s soon-to-be new stepfather and Chessy doesn’t come to Maybe’s rescue, Maybe freaks outs. After searching her mother’s belongings for clues, Maybe deducts that the man who could possibly be her biological father --- the one she’s never met and who doesn’t even know she’s alive --- lives in California. She decides that now, the summer before her senior year in high school, is a better time than any to escape from Chessy and possibly find her real father along the way.
Maybe’s two best friends --- Ted, aka Thammasat Tantipinichwong Schneider, and Daniel, aka Hollywood --- join her in this quest. Hollywood is already en route to start film school at the University of Southern California, so they come along for the ride. After overextending their stay in Hollywood’s dorm room, Ted and Maybe have to find jobs and their own places in L.A. Things don’t come as easily for Maybe, though. Her hunt for her father is going nowhere, and getting a job doesn’t prove to be much easier. Meanwhile, Hollywood is busy creating a documentary, and Ted becomes an assistant to a famous celebrity. Even though she has traveled so far from home, Maybe finds herself still trying to discover who she really is, and now she feels alone as her friends become swept up in their new lives.
As the summer draws on, Maybe faces challenges and struggles as she reconnects with people from her past, makes new friends and gets a job. Along the way, Maybe has to reevaluate the girl she was before and the girl she wants to be in the future.
ABSOLUTELY MAYBE is Lisa Yee’s first novel for teens after writting several critically acclaimed middle-grade books, including MILLICENT MIN, GIRL GENIUS, STANFORD WONG FLUNKS BIG-TIME and SO TOTALLY EMILY EBERS. Like her other titles, Yee’s latest has a cast of quirky and likable characters, and the humor is top-notch. Maybe is a troubled teen who you just can’t help but root for. Chessy may come off as a bit over the top at times, but in a very funny way. The summer (along with the book itself) seems to fly by, and you can only hope that we’ll see more of Maybe and her friends for another adventure.
--- Reviewed by Kristi Olson
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