Okay, so anyone who knows me at all can probably tell why I picked up this book in the first place: the incredibly adorable rooster on the front.  He is just so cute!  Look at his little earlobes! <3  But I digress... again, I was in search of YA lit with a powerful feminist message for an essay.  I was a little put off at first by the fact that the book deals with a girl's attempt to win Prosper County Sweetheart and ride in a parade to prove the world wrong, but somehow I just knew that it would have a little more to it than that... Or I was in love with that rooster, I don't know.

In Sweetheart, we meet Austin Gray, 15-year-old resident of a teeny-tiny Texas town.  Dean Ottmer has teased her mercilessly since the 4th grade, and when he makes fun of her flat chest at the No-Jesus Christmas Parade, she decides that it's time to make a real change in her life and prove the Dean Ottmers of the world wrong.  She's determined to become the Sweetheart of Prosper County and ride in the No-Jesus Christmas Parade herself, and the first step toward this goal is joining the Future Farmers of America (a real organization that I was at one point a member of myself) and raising herself a prize rooster for the fair.  Against the background of a very varied array of FFA members and her own mother's overprotective nature, she's going to make sure Charles Dickens the rooster makes it to the top and takes her with him!

There were so many things about this book that I liked, only a couple that I didn't.  For instance, I didn't always believe all of the characters as Southern teenagers or as teenagers at all.  But then again, when I thought about how their dialogue didn't always flow or seemed forced, I remembered what it was like to be a teenager and how I've been a bit peeved at books in the past for making teenagers sound incredibly smooth, saying things far too clever for that awkward time in life. 

But I do feel like there wasn't an excuse for the Elvis impersonating character to be forced.  When an author is trying to create a group of strong characters that send an important message, they all need to be equally compelling and strong.  Elvis could have been a powerful message about being yourself in the face of high school bullying, about moving on and doing what you love and being true to yourself, but he seemed to fall a little short while characters around him rose to the challenge of the message they were meant to deliver.  Don't get me wrong though; he wasn't all bad, he got a good bit of the message across, and I loved his shining moments at the fair.

I also didn't buy the noodling scene.  I get the idea of kids doing something dumb that could get them hurt, but it started out forced and ended in a deus ex machina way.  When the protagonist is in trouble in the middle of nowhere, here comes An Adult to save the day at exactly the right moment.  It was almost as if all the other gape-mouthed teenagers had merely stood by, waiting for this person to show up rather than doing what people would normally do.

But all that aside, it was a great book that has a lot to teach to its target demographic; perfect for readers in the 11-15 range and still very appealing to adults who like YA lit.  The characters in this book are stronger than the world around them, and they teach Austin and the readers about what it is to live life and live it in the face of adversity. 

Her best friend, Maribel, is a great example of Hispanic culture, and I definitely caught the message when (spoiler alert) her ice cream lost at the fair because it was too different (i.e. too ethnic).  Sundi, the reigning Sweetheart, instead of being taken down as that mean pretty girl, is elevated to the level of human being and proves herself to be a gentle heart and fierce friend.  While Austin is a message of strength for the "average," Sundi is a message of strength for the "above average."  Society at large is trained to judge a girl on her looks and assign traits to her based on looks or rate of development, something boys simply don't have to face while growing up.  Sundi's character is why this book was good for my essay: she challenges the pattern of judgement.  It's refreshing to see a book that gives personality and soul to girls like Sundi, revealing the fallacy of the girl-judging we are subjected to and even participate in.

Alright, all ranting aside, the book is clever, funny, and a pretty good glimpse into the world that tweens and early teens find themselves in.  It was able to both be an accurate representative of that world, as well as a teacher to its inhabitants of subjects that are addressed far too little in today's vapid and fantastical YA lit, all in just over 200 double-spaced pages.  It is a rare book that can be so effective in so few pages.  It also reminds us that teen fiction doesn't need fairies or vampires or magic.  Not to mention it harks back to the books I was reading when I was in early middle/ late elementary school about cute, cuddly animals that come suddenly into the protagonist's life and leave them changed for the good.

I give cute little Charles Dickens the rooster 4 big blue ribbons out of 5, but I do only suggest this book for its target age group or for people who are very open to the way teen fiction is presented.  If you just got done with Moby Dick and haven't touched a YA book since you actually were a young adult, this kind of writing might not be for you.  But if it is, you can pick up your own copy of The Sweetheart of Prosper County by Jill S. Alexander right here.   Happy reading!