American Girls

So Anna "borrows" her stepmom's credit card and runs away to Los Angeles, where her half-sister takes her in. But LA isn't quite the glamorous escape Anna had imagined. As Anna spends her days on TV and movie sets, she engrosses herself in a project researching the murderous Manson girls—and although the violence in her own life isn't the kind that leaves physical scars, she begins to notice the parallels between herself and the lost girls of LA, and of America, past and present. In Anna's singular voice, we glimpse not only a picture of life on the B-list in LA, but also a clear-eyed reflection on being young, vulnerable, lost, and female in America—in short, on the B-list of life. Alison Umminger writes about girls, violence, and which people society deems worthy of caring about, which ones it doesn't, in a way not often seen in YA fiction. “Messy, honest, and unflinchingly real. I can't get this book out of my head. I don't want to get this book out of my head.” —Becky Albertalli, author of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda “An extraordinary book that shines a light on parts of the American experience we often overlook. Rich, complex, emotionally nuanced, wise, and layered.” —Jeff Zentner, author of The Serpent King “Funny, sad, often surprising, and just damned authentic.” —emily m. danforth, author of The Miseducation of Cameron Post “A razor-sharp commentary on our culture, observed with keen wit from the perspective of one honest and complex American girl.” —Kirkus, starred review “Bittersweet and true, Anna's journey to self-discovery is one that should be widely read.” —ALA Booklist, starred review “Reveals richly complicated relationships among mothers, daughters, and sisters.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review