My Messed-Up Life
Binding: Paperback
Imprint: Andersen Press
Age 12+
Family Break-Up Personal & Social Issues: Siblings Family & Home Stories, Personal & Social Issues: Divorce, Separation
Violet is not impressed with her TV director dad: he’s decided to abandon his family in Vancouver to start over with a new younger wife in LA. To Violet, it’s like he’s traded his old life for a better one – complete with new and improved children. To make matters worse, her mom has taken up with a dorky new man called Dudley Wiener.
Violet decides to take control. She needs a new stepfather who is perfect, charming and will show Dad what he’s missing: she needs George Clooney, Hollywood superstar.
Creators
Susin Nielsen got her start writing for popular television series, Degrassi Junior High. Since then, she’s written for many Canadian TV shows and her young adult novels have received considerable critical acclaim. Word Nerd and My Messed-Up Life won multiple Young Readers’ Choice Awards. The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen won the UKLA Award, the prestigious Governor General’s Literary Award, the Canadian Library Association’s Children’s Book of the Year and many Young Readers’ Choice Awards, while We Are All Made of Molecules was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal. Susin lives in Vancouver with her family and two extremely destructive cats.
Reviews
My Messed-Up Life is another funny, well-observed story from Susin Nielsen… it’s a bouncy read with characters to whom readers will soon feel a strong attachment.
BookTrust
Sassy and candid… Especially affecting are Violet’s struggles to accept her father’s new family and her devotion to both her mother and Rosie. A bonus: Clooney makes a cameo
Publishers Weekly
Nielsen has created a story that is both funny and touching and well worth the read. Highly recommended
CM Magazine
Laugh-out-loud humor deftly mixes with insight into a troubled girl’s pain over her parents’ divorce, keeping readers involved on every page … This comic novel scores
Kirkus
…warm, funny and highly engaging.
The School Librarian
This hilarious book is fast-paced and witty, but beneath the laughs, Violet is a pre-teen struggling with the complexities of her parent’s relationships.
Inis Reading Guide
Violet is a complex, appealing character … a very engaging read
Booklist
A lot of cleverness and fun … Some delectable secondary characters (and) a couple of lovely plot twists … Buy it
National Post
