Written by Helen Frost
When My Sister Started Kissing is about two sisters that lose their mom when they are very young. Abigail, the oldest, is now thirteen and Clare will be eleven this month. They are going to a summer cabin that the family purchased when their mother was alive.
Neither sister has liked the woman their dad married last summer, who is pregnant, but Abigail begins warms up to her when they go to the mall to get new clothes. Abigail comes back with lots of bags of new clothes, shoes, makeup, and more. She also gets highlights in her hair. After that, she starts liking her stepmom more. Then, when the family goes to the beach, she meets a guy she likes, and he likes her too. Soon she is sneaking out to be with him. When she gets caught her dad only grounds her for a week, so that doesn’t stop her from sneaking out, or going to see him. She just has to say that Clare is going with her. Clare doesn’t like all of the sneaking around her sister is doing, but she also doesn’t want her to get into trouble.
Abigail told Claire to call her Abi from now on, to make her sound cool. The new baby arrives which was a plus for Abi, because it was easy for her to sneak out. This book made me a bit annoyed by Abigail, because she shouldn’t be lying to her dad, shouldn’t have a boyfriend or be kissing him at the age of 13, and she shouldn’t let boys get in the way of her friends. Other than that, it was a really good book. The book is told in poetic verse and I read it in only two days.
Review by Stephanie Rodriguez, Student, Evergreen Junior High
Rating: ★★★★✩ (4 stars)
Interest Level: 4th through 8th Grade
When My Sister Started Kissing
Written by Helen Frost
Farrar, Straus, Giroux
208 pages
Release Date: March 18, 2017
A review copy was provided by the publisher.
