Wildlife

The only person you should be is yourself. You can't control perception. All you can control is how you treat someone else.

— A raw and achingly real book about self-image, perception and fitting in. Also about the complexity of (female) friendships: that line between being friends and being “friends”, envy/admiration vs. jealousy/hatred.

I loved this SO much. These girls, Sib and Lou, felt so realistic in their attempts at navigating popularity and grief and friendship. I love most YA books about camp/outdoors/etc and this one, set in an Australian school's wilderness term, made great use of all those finding yourself in nature tropes that I DIG.

It handles teen sex in a refreshing confused/enthusiastic/hesitant jumble that I haven't seen much of in YA, and that I appreciated.

also: a wallaby dies.