Confessions of a Teenage Leper by Ashley Little - OPTIONAL

Confessions of a Teenage Leper by Ashley Little, 291 pages.  Penguin Teen (Penguin), 2018.  $18

Language: R (25+ swears, 12 F); Mature Content: R (Sex, Drugs, Drinking), Violence: R (Suicide, Fighting)

BUYING ADVISORY: HS – OPTIONAL  

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

Abby is the teenage girl every girl wants to be: blonde, beautiful, a cheerleader; until she mysteriously contracts Hansen’s Disease! That’s right, she has Leprosy! Her whole world is turned upside down as this rare and horrible disease ravages her body and she has to discover who she wants to be, now that she isn’t pretty.

Confessions of a Teenage Leper takes on nearly all of the standard teenage hardships including drinking, drugs, homosexuality, virginity, self esteem, and family issues. Unfortunately, most of these are dealt with in a superficial way and are handled in an off the cuff short conversation or scene. Even Abby’s fight to be more than just a pretty cheerleader (a main plot point) is mostly speech without actions to back it up. I was really excited at the start of this book and became less and less so as it neared completion. I think it has merit to teens looking outside of themselves though and seeing that others have similar struggles and make poor choices too. 

Dina W. - ELA teacher