My Most Excellent Year

Okay, you all have to be subjected to another glowing review this week. It's a tough life. This one was also recommended by my best friend, once again proving that she has excellent taste in books (she told me about Fat Cat, too). I plan to consult her more in the future, so get used to raving reviews. This was one of those books that you're happy to curl up with all day because it just pulls you in and never gets boring. Here's a quick (or maybe not-so-quick) run-down of My Most Excellent Year.
       The story is told from the perspective of three teenagers in Boston, reliving their freshman year in high school as they're about to become seniors. Augie and T.C. are best friends and brothers in everything but genetics, and soon get to know Ale (pronounced "allie." The computer wouldn't do the accent thingy over the e).
Augie has been in love with Liza Minnelli, everything Broadway, and performing in general since he was little. The fact that he's gay is obvious to everyone but him. 
T.C., on the other hand, is completely straight. His mom died when he was six, so he grew up with just his dad. He's nuts about baseball, and tries to fit into the role of the cool kid at school; he never gets anything above a B and could get any girl he sets his sights on. 
Alejandra, Ale for short, is new to Boston. She's the daughter of an ambassador and doesn't have the people skills to match; she's fiery, doesn't take crap from anyone, and always speaks her mind.
All three get tangled up in ninth grade. T.C. sets his sights on Ale from her first day, but she's having none of it. Augie becomes friends with a boy called Andy Wexler that soon develops into something more; both Augie and Andy have to figure out how to deal with these new revelations and each other. T.C. finds a new friend in Hucky, a six-year-old deaf orphan whose solemnity and shyness just make T.C. want to get him to open up even more. Augie gets the grand idea of putting on a talent show-slash-play and quickly learns that a lot of things can go wrong. He enlists Ale's help to save the show. Overall, the year is filled with ups, a couple downs, twists, turns, setbacks, laughter, tears, and memories that will last forever.
This review probably didn't come close to doing the book justice, so I hope you'll take my word for it that this is a freaking amazing book! Instead of being just a normal narrative, it also has journal entries, letters, articles, and IMs. It made me laugh (many times) and almost made me cry once. Any self-respecting high-schooler needs to read this. I'm serious, if you don't read it there's something wrong with you. Get it at Kettleson, Mt. Edgecumbe, or Blatchley.