Bright Before Sunrise

November 18, 2013
Brighton Waterford is the most popular girl at school, but she and her family are still mourning the loss of her father: “Five years. And it’s still so raw.” Surly Jonah Prentiss is new in wealthy Cross Pointe; he can’t stand the town or anyone in it, especially his mother’s rich new husband, or Brighton, whose perkiness embodies everything that angers him about Cross Pointe. Brighton needs Jonah to participate in a school service project, and she will try and get to him however she can, including agreeing to babysit his baby sister to get access to him. When Jonah catches Brighton snooping in his room, it sets off a long night of mishaps, misunderstandings, arguments, party-
going, near-fistfights, angry ex-girlfriends, and an eventual romantic spark between the two teenagers. In this combative but eventually sweet opposites-attract romance, Schmidt (Send Me a Sign) has the two protagonists narrate in alternating chapters, and she has a good handle on Jonah’s anger and class-based insecurity as well as Brighton’s exhaustion between her grief and the many pressures she’s under. Ages 12–up. Agent: Barry Goldblatt Literary.

December 1, 2013
Prim Brighton, a high school junior, agrees to accompany sullen Jonah to a party only after the senior reluctantly promises to participate in a community-service project. Soon, sparks are flying in this opposites-attract romance. Initially, Jonah and Brighton's "date" is merely a businesslike agreement. Jonah needs Brighton's beauty to make an ex-girlfriend jealous, and Brighton needs Jonah's participation as part of her project to honor her late father. Their early interactions are largely contentious, as Jonah offends Brighton by describing her carefully cultivated "nice" persona as symptomatic of a lack of interests. But revelations and radical changes in perceptions must happen quickly considering the novel's short time frame, and Schmidt seems to compensate by relying on formulaic situations to move the plot along. Jonah becomes suddenly protective of Brighton when she attracts the unwelcome attentions of a brutish older guy at the party, and Brighton earns respect by gushing about horror movies during a late-night impromptu pizza dinner with Jonah's friends. Meanwhile, Brighton begins recognizing Jonah's sensitive side while observing him with his hometown friends and listening to stories of his father's abandonment. Her growing understanding allows her to see his observations about her personality less as critiques and more as permission to shed the burden of pursuing her father's legacy at the cost of her own personal interests. Predictable but with some sweet moments. (Fiction. 12-18)

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March 1, 2014

Gr 8 Up-Jonah Prentiss, the new guy at Cross Pointe High School, spends his days alone and silent. Instead of attending this wealthy suburban school, he would rather be back at his old school in Hamilton, only a few miles away in distance, but on the opposite side of the universe in terms of economics. His mother remarried and moved the newly blended family to Cross Pointe during the last half of Jonah's senior year, and instead of trying to fit in, Jonah radiates anger and counts down the days until graduation when he can escape. He goes back to Hamilton as often as he can to see his girlfriend and old buddies. At his new school, he reluctantly befriends Brighton Waterford, a popular and spirited school leader at CPHS who tries to recruit Jonah to help with service projects. Even when he lashes out at her, Brighton continues to be sweet and friendly because, after all, that's what people in Cross Pointe do. Brighton and Jonah end up going to a party together and by the end of the night, they help each other uncover some of the deeper issues each faces. The story takes place all in one long evening and ends with a good bit of romance as the two find they have more in common than they first thought. This book will appeal to readers who enjoy realistic fiction and love stories.-Diana Pierce, formerly at Leander High School, TX

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