Grow Up, Tahlia Wilkins!
by Karina Evans (Author)
In this fun and honest romp about friendship, puberty, and growing up, a debut author gives modern-day readers their own version of Are You There God? It's Me Margaret, for fans of Pixar's "Turning Red."
Twelve-year-old Tahlia Wilkins is ready to kick off the perfect summer, starting with an invitation to a pool party being thrown by the most popular kid in school. But when the Red Goddess of Panties, aka her first period, arrives twenty-four hours before the party, it messes up all her plans. To make matters worse, her mom is out of town, and there's no way she's going to ask her awkward dad for help! Tahlia always feared that growing up would be tough, but this is just not fair.
In order to save herself from total embarrassment, it will take all of Tahlia and her best friend Lily's scheming to keep her reputation--and her favorite jeans--from being ruined. Sneak off to the grocery store only to have the clerk price-check your tampons over the loudspeaker? Check. Trick your mature teenage neighbor into letting you use some of her tampons? Check. Take a dip into a fountain to get quarters for a bathroom period product dispenser? Check, check, check!
With the hilarious and heartwarming tone of Dork Diaries, Grow Up, Tahlia Wilkins! is a coming-of-age middle-grade novel about growing up, in all of its awkward glory.
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Publishers Weekly
Middle school humiliation is the topic of Evans's lively debut, which follows 12-year-old Tahlia Wilkins, who reads as white, and the series of disasters she experiences in the days following seventh grade graduation. Her first problem? The pimple that's appeared on her "traitorous chin" just in time for popular Noah Campos's pool party, where Tahlia hopes to overcome a previous "goggles-and-board-shorts incident," and prove that she's gotten cooler over the past year. Next, just after her mother leaves their central Pennsylvania town to attend a work retreat sans phone service, Tahlia gets her first period. She's too embarrassed to tell her awkward father or 16-year-old twin brothers, but Tahlia and her best friend engage in a series of comic acts. They sneak into a neighbor's bathroom, for one, and wade into a restaurant fountain to gather quarters for a bathroom dispenser, events that lead to further dilemmas. As Tahlia's chatty first-person narration conveys her desire of popularity amid her eventful first visit from "The Fairy Godmother of Puberty," Evans offers some practical tips for young people on the brink of menstruation, ending on a family-oriented upswing--and a note of relief. Ages 8-12. Agent: Jessica Mileo, InkWell. (Apr.)
Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.Review quotes
KARINA EVANS studied English and film studies at the University of Delaware before going into a career in the entertainment industry. She currently lives in Los Angeles, California. Grow Up, Tahlia Wilkins! is her first novel. She invites you to visit her online at karinaevans.com
JUV039140 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance
JUV039020 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Adolescence
JUV014000 - Juvenile Fiction | Girls & Women
Family life
Popularity
Best friends
Puberty
Menstruation
