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Winfrey, Kerry

WORK TITLE: Things Jolie Needs to Do Before She Bites It
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://www.kerrywinfrey.com/
CITY: Columbus
STATE: OH
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American

RESEARCHER NOTES:

 

 

LC control no.:    n 2017019690

Descriptive conventions:
                   rda

Personal name heading:
                   Winfrey, Kerry

Found in:          Love and other alien experiences, 2017: ECIP title page
                      (Kerry Winfrey)

================================================================================


LIBRARY OF CONGRESS AUTHORITIES
Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave., SE
Washington, DC 20540

Questions? Contact: ils@loc.gov

PERSONAL

Married; children: one son.

ADDRESS

  • Home - Columbus, OH.

CAREER

Author.

AVOCATIONS:

Romantic comedies, baking.

WRITINGS

  • Love and Other Alien Experiences (novel), Feiwel & Friends (New York, NY), 2017
  • Things Jolie Needs to Do Before She Bites It (novel), Feiwel & Friends (New York, NY), 2018

Contributor to welcometoladyville.com. Author of column, “Young Adult Education,” HelloGiggles.

SIDELIGHTS

Kerry Winfrey devotes much of her time to writing and reading. She currently works under Welcome to Ladyville, a blog she runs herself, as well as HelloGiggles. She has also penned two novels.

Love and Other Alien Experiences

Love and Other Alien Experiences serves as Winfrey’s literary debut. Its main character is Mallory, whose world has been forever shaken by the departure of her father. Ever since she has remained housebound, her anxiety having taken over her life completely. Her only contact with the outside world comes through the Internet, her family, and what few friends she still has left. She manages a blog centering on extraterrestrial life; spends time with Lincoln, her brother, and Jenni, her closest friend; and studying online. Yet the outside world hasn’t forgotten about Mallory. She is suddenly chosen to become her school’s prom queen, and should she accept, she’ll be forced to attend and step back out into a world she fears. Mallory doesn’t turn the award down, however. By becoming prom queen, she will be granted a considerable financial prize, which she intends to use to track down her missing dad once and for all. Mallory decides to take back her life by preparing herself to re-enter the world.

A number of her classmates, as well as her friends, all agree to assist in re-acclimating her so she can not only claim her title, but also face the outside world again after spending such a long time in isolation. “If realism isn’t an issue, the voice here will engage romance seekers,” wrote Lisa Ehrle, a School Library Journal reviewer.

Things Jolie Needs to Do Before She Bites It

Things Jolie Needs to Do Before She Bites It is Winfrey’s second novel. It focuses on titular protagonist, Jolie, whose current life is filled with worries and anxieties. For years, Jolie has struggled with poor dental health—namely, an underbite that severely impacts her quality of life. Each day brings headaches and difficulty eating; however, her underbite also affects her perceptions of herself. Jolie believes she is the furthest thing from pretty, and that having her jaw repaired will finally give her a sense of beauty. This is why she is looking forward to receiving surgery for her jaw, a procedure that is drawing ever closer within her life. Yet even the surgery fills Jolie with some trepidation. She believes there is a chance she may not survive the surgery, which is why she and her friends work together to put together a to-do list for her to fulfill before her surgery day arrives. From there, Jolie works to tick off each box on her list, including her ultimate dream: to be able to kiss her longtime crush, Noah Reed. To do this, she works up the nerve to audition for a school production Noah will be starring in; however, the auditions go much better than Jolie could have ever dreamed of. She is picked for the play’s second lead role. Yet what should be one of the happiest events in Jolie’s life arrives with an unexpected hitch: Derek, her longtime friend, is romantically interested in her and she finds herself feeling the same way.

“Jolie’s tale is funny and lighthearted, with likable characters and humorous situations,” remarked Voice of Youth Advocates contributor, Jennifer Miskec. She also called Things Jolie Needs to Do Before She Bites It “a great choice for readers who like funny books with quirky protagonists.” A reviewer in Publishers Weekly wrote: “Readers will gleefully cheer Jolie on as she learns to appreciate herself for who she is.” School Library Journal writer Kefira Phillipe felt that “readers will want to spend their time with Jolie, her family, and her friends.”

BIOCRIT

PERIODICALS

  • Publishers Weekly, May 21, 2018, review of Things Jolie Needs to Do Before She Bites It, p. 74.

  • School Library Journal, May, 2017, review of Love and Other Alien Experiences, p. 98; June, 2018, Kefira Phillipe, review of Things Jolie Needs To Do Before She Bites It, p. 86.

  • Voice of Youth Advocates, June, 2018, Jennifer Miskec, review of Things Jolie Needs to Do Before She Bites It, p. 67.

ONLINE

  • Ad Week, https://www.adweek.com/ (September 4, 2018), author profile.

  • Brit+Co, https://www.brit.co/ (July 19, 2018), Angela Velez, “Kerry Winfrey’s YA Novel Will Keep You Cool for the Summer,” author interview.

  • Inkwell Management, http://inkwellmanagement.com/ (September 4, 2018), author profile.

  • Kerry Winfrey website, https://www.kerrywinfrey.com (September 4, 2018), author profile.

  • Pop Goes the Reader, http://www.popgoesthereader.com/ (July 5, 2018), “Her Story: Ladies In Literature 2018 with Kerry Winfrey.”

  • Welcome to Ladyville, http://welcometoladyville.com/ (September 4, 2018), author profile.

  • Love and Other Alien Experiences ( novel) Feiwel & Friends (New York, NY), 2017
  • Things Jolie Needs to Do Before She Bites It ( novel) Feiwel & Friends (New York, NY), 2018
1. Love and other alien experiences LCCN 2016037608 Type of material Book Personal name Winfrey, Kerry, author. Main title Love and other alien experiences / Kerry Winfrey. Edition First paperback edition. Published/Produced New York : Feiwel and Friends, 2017. Description 258 pages ; 21 cm ISBN 9781250119520 (trade paperback) CALL NUMBER PZ7.1.W584 Lov 2017 CABIN BRANCH Copy 1 Request in Jefferson or Adams Building Reading Rooms - STORED OFFSITE 2. Things jolie needs to do before she bites it LCCN 2017957509 Type of material Book Personal name Winfrey, Kerry. Main title Things jolie needs to do before she bites it / Kerry Winfrey. Published/Produced New York, NY : Feiwel and Friends, 2018. Projected pub date 1807 Description pages cm ISBN 9781250119544 (hardcover) 9781250119551 (ebk.)
  • iNKWELL MANAGEMENT - http://inkwellmanagement.com/client/kerry-winfrey

    Kerry Winfrey grew up in Bellville, Ohio, where she spent most of her time reading inappropriate books at the library. Not much has changed. Kerry writes for HelloGiggles and blogs at welcometoladyville.com. She lives in Columbus, Ohio with her husband and their dog, Merlin.

  • author's blog - http://welcometoladyville.com/

    My name is Kerry Winfrey. I write books and hang out with my husband, baby, and dog in the middle of Ohio.

    I’m the author of LOVE AND OTHER ALIEN EXPERIENCES. It’s about homecoming dances, underground alien message boards, The X-Files, physics, hot brothers, falling in love, family, anxiety, and a bunch of other things. It was published by Feiwel and Friends in July of 2017. You can read it now…here are links to order it from your preferred retailer!

    Booklist called it “a charming take on high school—the friendships, the romance, and the snubs—that also tenderly explores mental illness and the stigmas that accompany it. A sweet and funny debut.” It was also selected by iBooks as one of the best books of July!
    LAOAE ibooks

    If you want to know more about the book, you can watch the book trailer. My brother Alex Winfrey made it and you should probably hire him to make your book trailer, too.

    I love romantic comedies more than almost anything, so I watched 52 of them in (almost) one year. Check out A Year of Romantic Comedies if you want to read way, way too much about Sleepless in Seattle.

    I’ve written a lot about YA for HelloGiggles. You can read my column called Young Adult Education, if you’d like!

    Here are a few interviews where I talk about writing, romcoms, etc.:
    Brit+Co
    Jordz the Bibliophile
    Author Stalker
    Kayla Dean
    #30DaysofRomcoms

    You can also find me on Twitter, Tumblr, Goodreads, and Instagram.

    Oh! And you can email me at welcometoladyville(at)gmail(dot)com. I’d love to hear from you.

    For LOVE AND OTHER ALIEN EXPERIENCES publicity, please contact Kelsey Marrujo: kelsey.marrujo at macmillan dot com

    I am represented by Stephen Barbara at Inkwell Management.

  • author's site - https://www.kerrywinfrey.com/

    Kerry Winfrey is the author of LOVE AND OTHER ALIEN EXPERIENCES (out now!) and THINGS JOLIE NEEDS TO DO BEFORE SHE BITES IT (July 2018), both from Feiwel and Friends. She’s written for many websites, including HelloGiggles. When she’s not writing, she’s most likely baking yet another batch of cookies or watching far, far too many romantic comedies. She lives with her husband, baby, and dog in the middle of Ohio.

  • Brit+Co - https://www.brit.co/kerry-winfrey-love-and-other-alien-experiences-interview/

    Kerry Winfrey’s YA Novel Will Keep You Cool for the Summer
    Angela Velez · Jul 19, 2017

    If this summer’s blazing temps have you building a shrine to your A/C unit and questioning why you’d ever want to venture into the sweaty real world, you are not alone. But in Love and Other Alien Experiences, Mallory takes the #hermitlife to a whole new level: She hasn’t left the house in 67 days, thanks to her anxiety and agoraphobia. But when Mallory is nominated for Homecoming Queen, she decides to ditch her stay-home-forever plans in the hopes of nabbing the prize money and finding her MIA dad. It’s a story that will have you rooting for Mal as she discovers secrets about friendship, boys, her family, and most importantly — herself. We caught up with debut author Kerry Winfrey to chat creativity, advice, and more. Scroll on to learn more from this brilliant writer.

    Brit + Co: Describe your book in six words or less.

    Kerry Winfrey: Anxiety, The X-Files, homecoming, and kissing.

    B+C: Where/when do you do your best writing?

    KW: Anywhere I can. I have a son, so my writing has to happen before he wakes up and after he goes to sleep. Ideally, I love to write outside, but a lot of the time I end up writing in bed while listening to the baby monitor.

    B+C: What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever done for book research?

    KW: Does “listening in on strangers’ conversations” count as strange, or is that just creepy? Either way, I do it and I don’t plan on stopping. It’s good for dialogue, I tell myself… and also I’m just really nosy.

    B+C: What’s your go-to cure for when you’re stuck in a creativity rut?

    KW: In the short term, I think going for a walk or going to sleep can solve most writing problems… and a lot of general life problems. In the longer term, I like to read or watch something that’s totally unrelated to what I write. Like, right now I’m watching Riverdale, which isn’t at ALL like the books I write. It’s nice to turn off your writing brain and just enjoy something for entertainment’s sake.

    B+C: What two lady heroes do you turn to for inspiration, and why?

    KW: Meg Cabot: She says she writes books for people in waiting rooms, and I love that philosophy. Life is really hard for most people, and books are capable of providing so much comfort. Nora Roberts: She’s so productive and she basically owns an entire town. (Photo via Getty/Mike Coppola)

    rose cookies for north dakota shakespeare!! #ndshakes #romeoandjuliet #grandforks

    A post shared by molly yeh (@mollyyeh) on Jun 13, 2017 at 2:02pm PDT

    B+C: What’s your latest Instagram obsession?

    KW: Most of my favorite Instagram accounts are food-related, and my current obsession is Molly Yeh, @mollyyeh. Everything she makes is so beautiful, and I just made her Chicken Pot Tot Hotdish (it ruled).

    B+C: Can you name a book that you think deserves a little more love + recognition?

    KW: I LOVED Ernessa T. Carter’s 32 Candles. It’s basically Sixteen Candles meets The Bluest Eye, which sounds bananas, but she makes it work. I recommend it to anyone who loves romance and John Hughes movies.

    B+C: What’s next on your to-read pile?

    KW: About a million things! Up next I have The Lake Effect by Erin McCahan, Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, and of course the new Sarah Dessen.

    B+C: What advice do you have for aspiring creative ladies?

    KW: Remember that you don’t need any special qualifications to be creative. You don’t need a degree or a mentor or a ton of money or the ability to quit your job. Whatever creative thing you want to do, you can fit it into your life right now. Don’t wait for the “perfect” moment to start, because that moment’s probably never gonna show up.

  • ad week - https://www.adweek.com/galleycat/hellogiggles-blogger-kerry-winfrey-lands-deal-with-feiwel-friends/118089

    Kerry Winfrey has signed a deal with the Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group imprint, Feiwel & Friends. She has become well-known as a young adult literature blogger at HelloGiggles.

    Winfrey’s debut book, entitled Love and Other Alien Experiences, was originally published as an eBook by the Paper Lantern Lit imprint, The Studio. It came out back in November 2015.

    According to Paper Lantern Lit’s announcement, Anna Roberto, an editor, acquired this young adult novel. Feiwel & Friends has scheduled the release date for Spring 2017.

  • Pop goes the reader - http://www.popgoesthereader.com/her-story-ladies-in-literature/her-story-ladies-in-literature-2018-with-kerry-winfrey/

    Her Story: Ladies In Literature 2018 with Kerry Winfrey
    Thursday, July 5th, 2018 at 12:00 AM | filed under Her Story: Ladies In Literature

    Her Story: Ladies In Literature is a special, month-long series on Pop! Goes The Reader in which we celebrate the literary female role models whose stories have inspired and empowered us since time immemorial. From Harriet M. Welsch to Anne Shirley, Becky Bloomwood to Hermione Granger, Her Story: Ladies In Literature is a series created for women, by women as twenty-six authors answer the question: “Who’s your heroine?” You can find a complete list of the participants and their scheduled guest post dates Here!

    About Kerry Winfrey

    Kerry Winfrey grew up in Bellville, Ohio, where she spent most of her time reading inappropriate books at the library. Not much has changed. She is the author of Love and Other Alien Experiences and the forthcoming Things Jolie Needs To Do Before She Bites It. Kerry has written for HelloGiggles and many other websites. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, their son, and their dog, Merlin. When she isn’t writing she can be found watching romantic comedies and making way too many baked goods.
    Author Links: Website ● Twitter ● Instagram ● Goodreads

    There are a lot of reasons to love Mia Thermopolis, the heroine of Meg Cabot’s iconic Princess Diaries series. She loves her cat, Fat Louie. She’s bad at math (relatable). She cares about everyone in her life, from her family to her friends to her loyal subjects in the fictional-but-real-in-my-heart country of Genovia. She just seems like a regular, down to earth girl, other than that whole “being a princess” thing. (And, okay, maybe I should refer to her as Princess Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo-Moscovitz, but I don’t think she’s really someone who insists on being called by her full name.)

    But there’s one particular thing about Mia that I think about, no kidding, at least once a week: she’s a romance novelist. Obviously Mia has always been a writer — I mean, she’s constantly sneaking off to public restrooms so she can immediately scribble down what just happened into her journal — but in the tenth book, Forever Princess, Mia writes a romance novel after plenty of encouragement from her romance-obsessed friend Tina Hakim Baba.

    A princess and a romance novelist…talk about a dream career. But Mia starts feeling insecure about it because Michael Moscovitz, the love of her life and quite possibly one of the greatest fictional boyfriends ever created, is a super-genius. He’s creating some sort of robotic surgical arm that will save people’s lives, and Mia starts to think that maybe she isn’t doing anything important by writing romance instead of literally saving lives. But then Michael, stand up guy that he is, reminds Mia that while his robotic surgical arm is operating on someone, that person’s family members might be out in the waiting room reading her book, letting it momentarily distract them from their worry.

    And I get that. It’s so easy to feel like what I’m writing (light, funny stuff that always features a climactic kiss) is inconsequential compared to people who write serious, politically relevant books…or people who don’t write books at all! I mean, I’m not a nurse or a firefighter or a politician. At times like these, when we’re constantly reminded of the tragedy in the world and the people who are suffering, when families are being torn apart at the U.S. border and people’s rights are regularly threatened, I start to feel like what I’m doing doesn’t matter. Much like Mia, I know people who are actually doctors — people who save lives and research important things and help people in tangible ways. I’m just writing some jokes and kissing scenes.

    But then I remember what Mia herself says at the end of the book:

    “I know now that there are ways I can work it so I can help people, and maybe, in the end, even make the world a better place. Not in huge ways, necessarily. Sure, I’m not going to invent a robotic surgical arm that’s going to save people’s lives. But I’ve written a book that might, like Michael said, make someone whose loved one is being operated on by that arm forget about how scared she is while she’s in the waiting room.”

    When my mother-in-law was sick with breast cancer, we spent a lot of time visiting the hospital. It was specifically a cancer hospital, and despite the gleaming floors and cheery decorations and bustling atmosphere, every time we got on the elevator I would think, “Every person here is having one of the worst days of their life.” Every single person we passed in the hallway, whether they were a patient or a family member, was dealing with something terrible. Maybe even the nurses and doctors I passed were having a particularly rough day.

    Later, on the 14-hour drive home from my mother-in-law’s funeral, I read Sarah MacLean’s Nine Rules To Break When Romancing A Rake. I needed to read something romantic and fun, something where hope and love and optimism won out in the end. That book was a lifeline at a time when I felt terrible, and I was grateful to have it there to grasp onto.

    And, much like Mia, I think that’s pretty great. Sure, my writing is never going to actually save a life, but I can think about those people in hospitals — those people who are all dealing with specific and individual heartbreaks that I can’t even imagine. They deserve something that will make them feel, if not better, then comforted for even a moment.

    Maybe Princess Mia and I are never going invent that robotic surgical arm, but that doesn’t mean that what we’re doing isn’t useful. My writing motto, the mantra I repeat when things get tough or I start to feel like what I’m writing isn’t “serious” enough, is “remember the people in the waiting rooms.” I have Princess Mia and Meg Cabot to thank for that.

    Title Things Jolie Needs To Do Before She Bites It
    Author Kerry Winfrey
    Pages 288 Pages
    Intended Target Audience Young Adult
    To Be Published July 10th 2018 by Feiwel & Friends
    Find It On Goodreads ● Amazon.com ● Chapters ● The Book Depository

    Jolie’s a lot of things, but she knows that pretty isn’t one of them. She has mandibular prognathism, which is the medical term for underbite. Chewing is a pain, headaches are a common occurrence, and she’s never been kissed. She’s months out from having a procedure to correct her underbite, and she cannot wait to be fixed.

    Jolie becomes paralyzed with the fear that she could die under the knife. She and her best friends Evelyn and Derek decide to make a THINGS JOLIE NEEDS TO DO BEFORE SHE BITES IT (WHICH IS SUPER UNLIKELY BUT STILL IT COULD HAPPEN) list. Things like: eat every appetizer on the Applebee’s menu and kiss her crush Noah Reed.

    Their plan helps Jolie discover what beauty truly means to her.

    Kerry Winfrey’s heartfelt and humorous novel takes a real look at how we perceive beauty.

Winfrey, Kerry. Things Jolie Needs to Do Before She Bites It
Jennifer Miskec
Voice of Youth Advocates. 41.2 (June 2018): p67.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC
http://www.voya.com
Full Text:
Winfrey, Kerry. Things Jolie Needs to Do Before She Bites It. Feiwel & Friends/ Macmillan, July 2018. 288p. $17.99. 978-1250-11954-4.

4Q * 4P * S

Jolie has a severe underbite, technically referred to as a mandibular prognathism. She also has two great friends, Evelyn and Derek, a college-aged sister who is pregnant, and a crush on a heartthrob named Noah. Jolie is too preoccupied with her impending jaw surgery to focus on how great her life is or on the needs of the community around her. Jolie is obsessed with her future self, who she imagines she will be post-surgery. More than just chewing food without pain or suffering from fewer headaches, Jolie believes that she will finally be pretty. Before she can begin the post-surgery life she has imagined for herself, she must make it through the surgery itself. Just in case she "bites it" on the operating table (pun intended), Jolie's friends help her create a bucket list, which includes kissing the perfectly coiffed Noah--and the plan to kiss Noah includes Jolie trying out for the school play.

Just in time for her surgery, Jolie embraces being seen. In the process, she learns that she is a good actor, a decent singer, and already beautiful, underbite and all. By the time she has her surgery, she has learned to love herself. While self-love and critiquing mainstream notions of beauty are at the center of this novel, it never devolves into being preachy. Instead, Jolie's tale is funny and lighthearted, with likable characters and humorous situations. This is a great choice for readers who like funny books with quirky protagonists, like Holly Goldberg Sloan's novel, Short (Penguin Random House, 2017/ VOYA December 2016).--Jennifer Miskec.

Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Miskec, Jennifer. "Winfrey, Kerry. Things Jolie Needs to Do Before She Bites It." Voice of Youth Advocates, June 2018, p. 67. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A545022935/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=ef379b1d. Accessed 13 Aug. 2018.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A545022935

Things Jolie Needs to Do Before She Bites It
Publishers Weekly. 265.21 (May 21, 2018): p74.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* Things Jolie Needs to Do Before She Bites It

Kerry Winfrey. Feiwel and Friends, $17.99 (256p) ISBN 978-1-250-11954-4

A book about a girl's facial deformity could easily become maudlin, but Winfrey (Love and Other A lien Experiences) employs sharp wit to offer ample levity as she traces 16-year-old Jolies trials in the weeks before her corrective surgery. Jolie dreams of having a "normal silhouette" post-procedure, with her "teeth lined up exactly where they're supposed to be." She is also fixated on the slight chance that she could die on the table and decides to create a bucket list of things to do before her operation. Her top priority is to kiss a boy, specifically handsome Noah Reed. Knowing that he will likely get the lead of the school's spring musical (a play involving a pig farmer's colonization of the moon), she auditions for a role among the chorus of pigs, despite her dread of being seen on stage. Jolie gets more than she bargains for when she wins the female lead opposite Noah--but her interest in him quickly dwindles as she realizes her heart really belongs to her best friend, Derek. Numerous laugh-aloud moments don't lessen the potency of the story's messages about beauty's subjectivity and overcoming fears. Readers will gleefully cheer Jolie on as she learns to appreciate herself for who she is. Ages 13-18. (July)

Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Things Jolie Needs to Do Before She Bites It." Publishers Weekly, 21 May 2018, p. 74. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A541012690/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=b9c05c7b. Accessed 13 Aug. 2018.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A541012690

WINFREY, Kerry. Tilings Jolie Needs To Do Before She Bites It
Kefira Phillipe
School Library Journal. 64.6 (June 2018): p86.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
WINFREY, Kerry. Tilings Jolie Needs To Do Before She Bites It. 288p. Feiwel & Friends. Jul. 2018. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9781250119544.

Gr 7 Up--In a few months, Jolie is going to have surgery to correct her underbite. She's looking forward to finally being as pretty as her older sister, Abbi--not to mention being able to chew her food more easily,-not speak with a lisp, and no longer have headaches. When she starts to worry that she'll die or her lips will get numb as a result of the surgery, Jolie makes a list of things to do before she "bites it." Her best friends Evelyn and Derek are on board, helping her try every appetizer on the Applebee's menu and suggesting drat she audition for the school musical so that she can kiss Noah Reed. Then Derek admits that he has feelings for her, creating consequences not just for Jolie and Derek, but for her friendship with Evelyn as well. The author has a light touch with heavy topics and has crafted a funny and relatable lead, well-developed secondary characters, and great story lines. This is a brisk read with real insight into friendships and young romance. Readers will want to spend their time with Jolie, her family, and her friends. VERDICT Recommended for general purchase.--Kefira Phillipe, Nichols Middle School, Evanston, IL

Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Phillipe, Kefira. "WINFREY, Kerry. Tilings Jolie Needs To Do Before She Bites It." School Library Journal, June 2018, p. 86. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A540902940/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=19d89fc0. Accessed 13 Aug. 2018.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A540902940

Winfrey, Kerry. Love and Other Alien Experiences
Lisa Ehrle
School Library Journal. 63.5 (May 2017): p98.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
WINFREY, Kerry. Love and Other Alien Experiences. 272p. Feiwel & Friends. Jul. 2017. pap. $10.99. ISBN 9781250119520.

Gr 7 Up--Authentic teen voices and a gentle love story are paired with a familiar and questionable plot. Mallory copes with extreme anxiety since her father abandoned the family; she hasn't left her house in more than two months. She spends her time attending webcam classes, hanging out with her best friend Jenni and her brother Lincoln, and posting on a website devoted to alien research. The seemingly cruel nomination of Mallory for prom queen upsets her safe world. Instead of declining the nomination, however, she decides to pursue the crown, if only for the $500 prize; this is just enough money to fund her search for her father. Her friends, the star jock, and his brother pull Mallory out of her sheltered life; on the way, she finds true friendship, love, and acceptance. While the voice rings true and the romance is predictable yet sweet, the downfall of this book is that the protagonist's ability to overcome her anxiety strains credulity; considering the amount of plot buildup, the conflicts are resolved too quickly. Also, character traits don't always match character actions. How can Mallory so easily venture out of doors after becoming physically ill during her prior excursion? VERDICT Those who want an accurate portrayal of anxiety disorders should consider John Corey Whaley's Highly Illogical Behavior. If realism isn't an issue, the voice here will engage romance seekers.--Lisa Ehrle, Falcon Creek Middle School, CO

Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Ehrle, Lisa. "Winfrey, Kerry. Love and Other Alien Experiences." School Library Journal, May 2017, p. 98. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A491032146/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=efe5eb89. Accessed 13 Aug. 2018.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A491032146

Miskec, Jennifer. "Winfrey, Kerry. Things Jolie Needs to Do Before She Bites It." Voice of Youth Advocates, June 2018, p. 67. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A545022935/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=ef379b1d. Accessed 13 Aug. 2018. "Things Jolie Needs to Do Before She Bites It." Publishers Weekly, 21 May 2018, p. 74. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A541012690/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=b9c05c7b. Accessed 13 Aug. 2018. Phillipe, Kefira. "WINFREY, Kerry. Tilings Jolie Needs To Do Before She Bites It." School Library Journal, June 2018, p. 86. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A540902940/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=19d89fc0. Accessed 13 Aug. 2018. Ehrle, Lisa. "Winfrey, Kerry. Love and Other Alien Experiences." School Library Journal, May 2017, p. 98. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A491032146/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=efe5eb89. Accessed 13 Aug. 2018.