Angela 1 - David Bedford

     Angela 1: Starting Over.  A novel by David A. Bedford.  NY:  Eloquent Books, 2009.  hardback with pictorial front. 188 pages ISBN 978-1-60860-755-6  $25.95  http://www.eloquentbooks.com

           

Yes, Angela's got a zit.  Add to that the impending divorce, the move from San Antonio to Corpus Christi, the difficult last name, and to top it off her mother enrolls her in the honors courses. And now the Kitty Kat girls are out to get her.  But Angela has a couple of good friends in Fiona and Benjie, who frankly admits he likes her curls.  She performs well in classes and enjoys Mr. Romero's history classes even if some of the adults think him subversive – gee, he even respects, encourages, and explains the lessons to his students. 

Before the dance contest, the Kitty Kats get that jerk Leroy to "attack" her for which Angela flips him and sends him the hospital for which the principal suspends her of all things.  Her mother pulls a Corleone and gets her right back in.  And the story goes on from there.

In the short 16 chapters, author David Bedford relates in a fasting moving narrative proving life's troubles can be overcome and one can even come to enjoy Corpus as a new home by the sea. 

            The volume may be most readable by YA honors students in high school or even middle school.  Good work, Bedford!