FLY ON THE WALL

Be careful what you wish for. Puzzling over the nature of the opposite sex, sophomore Gretchen Yee becomes an actual fly on the wall of the boys' locker room at Manhattan High School for the Arts. Suddenly she is no longer "trapped in a tiny life weighed down by . . . divorce, boys, social weirdness, mean drawing teachers." She finds herself a superhero. Caitlin Greer captures the angst of adolescence with all the considerable humor Lockhart musters. Yee's tenure in the locker room has her performing feats of kindness and boldness she never thought possible, and the whole "fly thing" is handled with aplomb. Greer captures the inner and actual voices of teens with perfection. D.P.D. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/ SEP 06]