Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging discussion

Independent Novel Project
Printz Honor Book Winner: Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal-Snogging
By. Michael Smith
Printz Honor Book “Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal-Snogging” is an interesting young adult humor novel on the life of a British teenager by the name of Georgia Nicolson. Georgia captures her life in time-stamped diary entries that make the audience feel like they are reading an actual persons thoughts about their life. Throughought the book, you get to accompany the main heroine as she matures and goes through typical every day issues that a teenager might have. This includes crushes, getting sick and having bad hair days, to about anything else you might remember from your early teen years. Louise Rennison seems to capture every one of these moments perfectly, and forces you to relive your tougher years, whether you enjoyed them or not.

Georgia lives with her two parents, a three year old sister, (who may or may not be the embodiment of filth) named Libby and her wild Scottish highlander cat, Angus. Throughout the entries in time, each character will grow a little more on the reader as they learn the little quirks and silver linings to each person Georgia mentions in her diary. This makes the novel all the more immersive, because the reader can place themselves right beside Georgia as they read through her thoughts, and the bonds that the author creates are truly magnificent, especially since the novel starts on a very humorous note.

In Georgia’s world, the most important thing is to get Robbie, who is the hottest boy in school, to snog with her. There is only one major obstacle in her quest to achieve the perfect snog with the perfect boy, and Georgia calls her “Wet/Slaggy”. Due to the heroines obsession with Robbie, Georgia and her friends decide to stalk Slaggy and find out her deepest secrets. In the process of following her around and watching her every move, they find out that she secretly wears thongs and pads her bras! It are times like this that encapsulate the nature of what a teenage girl who is pretty awkward might go through in her years of teenage angst. Even the most serious male can’t help but have a couple chuckles at the mishaps and adventures Georgia has to face.

The most admirable part of Louise’ novel, is that it almost never feels cliché, although it hits on the topic of teenage drama, which is very common in young adult novels. Throughout the entire novel, the reader may never get the feeling that this has been done before. The author has done an excellent job at keeping it fresh, from the unique format of diary entries, to the non-formal writing style of a young teen girl. It is as every bit interesting as it is well crafted, every character fits together and it makes it easy for the reader to imagine the social web of the girl’s school, along with explain why people are the way they are. This is the epitome of a slice-of-life novel.

Louise Rennison’s novel certainly makes a leap away from the typical format of a young adult novel, from the format of the writing itself, to the language used. The book is filled with British slang and comes with a handy translation in the back to help people who may not be savvy with the terms used. While it does stray from the formula a bit, a lot of the basic elements are still there, but the way Louise has crafted Georgia’s story gives the genre an interesting twist that all teenage readers can enjoy.