52 Projects

You better write a darn good YA novel if you are going to invoke — right in your title — a key line from one of the greatest teen anthems of all time. Susannah Felts has done just that in her novel This Will Go Down On Your Permanent Record. This is a great story that vividly captures that turning point in life when you are nowhere near being “grown-up” enough to handle or even fully understand all the big stuff going on around you, but there it is, in your face and under your skin, and you’ve just got to deal with it all in the best way you can. It’s a real treat experience this period through the eyes of the main character Vaughn, to see how she handles a difficult but deeply significant friendship, or how she embraces and explores the art of photography. Vaughn is a smart, self-aware young girl who isn’t yet comfortable in her own skin, but you know she will be at some point, sooner than most, but not any time soon. This is a real treasure of a novel. I hope you know that this should go down on your reading list, like, now. The good feeling you get will stay with you. Highly recommended.

Basically Decent.

The Unfinished.