Review: The Year of Secret Assignments - Jaclyn Moriarty

Where I got it:Library
Rating: 3.5 stars
Cover Rating: 3 stars (It's cute, I keep thinking its a mailbox at first though. *shrugs*)
Genre: Young Adult
Publication Date: February 1, 2004
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books
Page Count: 340 p.

Ashbury private school students Emily, Lydia and Cassie, are less than thrilled about having to write to the rival Brookfield high school. Despite this fact, all three of them accept their English assignment and write. Two of them get back normal letters, but Cassie gets a violent pen pal. She keeps writing to him and eventually it seems that he has lightened up. Meanwhile Lydia and Cass end up getting quite a bit closer with their pen pals, even breaking some rules to help them out.

This story written through letters and diary entries is a fun little read. I really enjoy it when novels are written in a different format from usual. This book was funny at some points and others made you roll your eyes. It was annoying yet realistic all of Emily misspellings and miswords (it's catching) in her letters. After reading A Secret Year I saw this book about a year of secret assignments and thought "neat". I'm glad I read this and I will be reading her other novels as soon as I can. It was a really fun read, that kept you guessing. It does have strong language but that's about as bad as it gets, although at some points I thought things were going to get graphic. I really enjoyed how clever and fun all of the characters were and how much energy they seemed to have. This is one of those oldies but goodies, I recommend picking it up for a semi-exciting laugh.


First Line:
"Quick! Before you read another word, write your FULL name in every box on this page!"

Favorite Line:
"4) It is clear that you are a person who likes Christina, and (in my professional opinion) you are ready to steal any girl from anybody."