Gusty Peterson, the hottest bimboy in school, is always thinking I'm sick, as in totally gross to look at. Not that it matters, since I don't have a crush on him or anything. And Mallory, my first real friend since forever, has disturbing romantic ideas about me and my ginormous gazungas.
Ask me if I'd rather not know these things.
I have enough to worry about with my dad showing up after two years of saving Africa from typhoid, ready to resuscitate our relationship. There's something he's not telling me. I know it.
And now I've been assigned to work with Gusty in a hideous new project the faculty are torturing us with at school. It's so wonderful to explore yourself with someone who's always thinking you're sick.
I'd probably be a lot better off if I weren't psychic after all . . .
"If you ever thought reading people's minds would make it easier to understand them, Amy Kathleen Ryan is here to tell you that you're dead wrong. Funny, fresh, and heartfelt, Vibes zigs when you expect it to zag, and will have you both laughing out loud and rooting for Kristi to discover the truth about her parents, her friends, and herself." - Barry Lyga, author of The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl
Kristi Carmichael attends an alternative high school where the principal's warm and fuzzy "feel-good-about-yourself" sessions make her want to throw up. Kristi is angry at her absentee dad; antagonistic to her surgeon mom; plays mean practical jokes on strangers; wears outrageous costumes she designs from scraps of fabric, mylar balloons, and rubber tires; and, oh yes, Kristi believes she's psychic. Emily Durante is spot-on in Kristi's first-person account of life in high school hell. Durante's youthful vitality makes Kristi sound like any alienated teenager who feels overweight, unattractive, and self-conscious about her "ginormous boobs." Amy Kathleen Ryan's Kristi turns out to be a funny, perceptive, completely original character and, despite her sometimes downright nastiness, Emily Durante makes her appealing. This is choice YA listening. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
About the Author
Amy Kathleen Ryan reads huge numbers of books and magazines, but has not had success in reading minds, though not for lack of trying. She lives in Colorado with her family, but she daydreams of living in Hawaii or Switzerland. When she is not writing, she can be found walking her dog, cooking in her kitchen, or taking catnaps in her office. She is a graduate of the New School Creative Writing Program. Vibes is her second novel.
